Vanessa Hayden scored 26 points with 12 rebounds but it wasn't enough to lead Florida past No. 18/20 Georgia in a thrilling 76-72 decision in the quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Friday evening at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
The loss dropped the Gator's overall record to 18-10 this season, while the Bulldogs improved to 21-8 and will play top-ranked Tennessee in the semifinals on Saturday.
Florida now awaits word of its postseason fate. The NCAA Tournament selection of the 64-team field will be announced on Sunday, March 14 beginning at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
In what was a game of significant and decisive runs, Georgia's 15-4 spree that began with just over seven minutes remaining in the game erased a 62-58 Gator lead and became a 71-66 Bulldog advantage with 2:07 left.
Hayden and UG center Christi Thomas exchanged buckets in the paint after the Georgia run, before Bernice Mosby completed a three-point play that dropped the deficit to 73-71 with 39 seconds remaining. Janese Hardrick then made one free throw on the other end of the floor after being fouled during UF's full court press. Tishona Gregory grabbed Hardrick's miss and the Gators got the ball inside to Hayden, who was fouled attempting a power jumper with 17 seconds left and Georgia holding a 74-71 lead. Hayden made the first and missed the second, but Tashia Morehead snared the offensive rebound and called a timeout for the Gators to set up a play.
UF worked the ball around the perimeter and found Danielle Santos on the right wing. Santos drove hard along the baseline and put up a short jumper that missed with six seconds remaining. The Gators were forced to foul immediately on the inbounds play and Alexis Kendrick coolly canned two free throws with four seconds remaining to give Georgia a 76-72 advantage that concluded the game's scoring.
Cori Chambers provided back-breaking back-to-back three-pointers late during Georgia's game-deciding run that energized the Bulldogs and gave them a 67-64 lead with 4:11 remaining and they would not trail again.
Bernice Mosby also scored in double figures for UF, netting 17 points with five rebounds. Hayden's double-double was her 16th this season and the 48th in her career, helping the Gators to a 43-35 rebounding advantage for the game. UF shot 43.3 percent (29-67) from the floor during the game, but hit just 60 percent (12-20) from the free throw line.
Sherill Baker scored a team-high 18 points for Georgia, which shot 46.4 percent (26-56) from the floor and nailed 70.4 percent (19-27) from the line. Thomas scored all of her 13 points during the second half, including eight points during the Bulldog's game-ending run.
Georgia opened the game scoring the first five points, but Florida battled and after exchanging buckets, the Gators ripped off an 18-2 run that featured seven points from Santos, five from Morehead and four from Mosby. The spree lifted UF to a 22-11 lead with 9:59 remaining in the first half.
Georgia collected several fouls during the run, as the Gators drove hard to the basket and continued to pound the ball inside to Hayden. However, with the Bulldogs post players collecting fouls quickly and Gators taking advantage by running out to a 22-11 lead, the Lady Bulldogs changed their strategy and began driving into the paint and drawing fouls instead of attempting the outside shot. The move worked as Florida began accumulating foul trouble and Georgia rallied with14-0 run and regained the lead, 27-24, with just under five minutes left in the half.
From that moment through the end of the half, the game featured four lead changes and three tied scores that included the 36-36 halftime mark.
Hayden scored the first bucket of the second half, but Sherill Baker netted the next two baskets as the lead changed hands again. Mosby then scored to tie the game and begin a 7-0 Gator swing resulting in a 45-40 lead with 16:39 remaining. Florida slowly increased its lead to seven points, 58-51, after Hayden's bucket with 9:24 on the clock and held a 62-56 advantage with 7:37 after Sarah Lowe's jumper. But that's when Georgia began its game-deciding run.
Postgame Quotes
FLORIDA HEAD COACH CAROLYN PECK
Opening remarks:
I think it was a great basketball game on both sides. Both teams played extremely well and played hard. Georgia got very good guard play. I think [Sherill] Baker really stepped her game up today and attacked. I am proud of my team and that is the team I will talk about. Unfortunately, the SEC season is over today. I am very proud of this team. This team won one game last year. They positioned themselves to be fourth in this tournament this year. This team came collectively together. They set goals for themselves. They were picked preseason to finish eighth. They ended up fourth. It was pretty good. We've had very key wins over ranked teams. I don't know why this team doesn't quite get the respect it deserves. I hope that the selection committee, when they are placing the field of 64, take a good hard look at the talent on this Florida basketball team. I do have the best center in the country. I do have the best sixth man in the country. I am proud of this team and where they are. They are a good "blank" basketball team.
On what the biggest change was from last season:
The biggest change was self-imposed by each individual player. They made the commitment to work extremely hard. In the off season, coaches can't work with them. The ones at home worked hard as well as the ones that stayed in Florida. They all came together in the summer. They worked together. A lot of that leadership came from Vanessa Hayden. Vanessa Hayden has lost about 20 pounds. She ran five miles in 20 minutes this summer. The rest of her teammates worked hard, too. I think the big turnaround came from our team making a commitment to themselves and to each other to be better and they have done exactly that.
On the game plan when down two in the closing seconds of the contest:
We had Bernice [Mosby] go out. I told her if she was open, to go for the win. If not, to reverse to the top. If that wasn't an option, we wanted to attack the basket and get the lay-up or jumper.
On biggest difference between this game and the previous regular season games against Georgia:
The biggest difference was that we made some key turnovers at certain times. That happened maybe two or three times. A miscommunication in the coverage inside. It's about as close as you can get. We win the rebound battle. Georgia didn't take as many threes this time as they did the first two games.
SENIOR CENTER VANESSA HAYDEN
On Christi Thomas:
She is a great post player. She works hard to get open. It's tough to guard a person 6'5" that plays as well as she does.
GEORGIA HEAD COACH ANDY LANDERS
Opening remarks:
I am really proud of our basketball team and I am sure they are proud of themselves. They fought the fight for 40 minutes. At a point when we could have folded a little bit, we dug in and made the necessary plays. We dug in and made some plays. We rejuvenated ourselves and played with a lot of heart and intelligence right through that first half. That is just a major accomplishment that we were able to overcome what was going to be a hurtful situation in the first half. In the second half, the team showed it is growing up. Earlier in the season, we would not have reacted down two or down four late. We have had a tendency not to see that through. We almost looked like we didn't trust each other to pull that through and tonight they didn't waver. They made up their minds to do what they needed to do. Ebony [Felder] played with so much heart, might and determination. She is just someone that everyone around loves to watch. Christi [Thomas] was good in the second half. We think Cori [Chambers] is a great shooter and has a chance to get much better. We felt we could get her open on the baseline and she drained both of them. That eight points in a short span was very big and very important to the team.
On match-up with Tennessee:
I think from a position standpoint, there are some very good match-ups. Tennessee has some edges in some areas, we have some edges in some other areas. When you look at the teams, they are two closely-matched teams. They are both very, very capable. Teams have to show up and individuals have to assert themselves in the framework of team play. We'll see what happens. I think we will be very excited about it. We just came out of one that was a war. It takes a little while to get over that. We'll be excited about it tomorrow.
On preparing for the NCAA Tournament:
I looked up tonight and we had three freshmen on the floor with one sophomore. We need to play. Sometimes, I am really impatient with them. We need to play as many games as we can play up here. This basketball team has the potential. We have been through a little bit of stuff. This team, because this isn't the same team we started with, this team changed again when Ebony was able to give us a minute here and there. This team hasn't reached its potential yet. It doubts itself sometimes. We need to play so they can prove to each other that we can be a factor in the postseason. I put Katie Frye in tonight when we couldn't get it done. I put Katie in there and she did a heck of a a job. From that point on, our basketball team was very good.
SENIOR FORWARD/CENTER CHRISTI THOMAS
On taking charges from Vanessa Hayden:
It's often that we take the charge and not be scared. With Vanessa, you have to hold your ground. She is a great player and you have to do anything you can to keep the ball out of her hands.
On a possible wrist injury and doing the Florida Gator Chomp at the end of the game:
It wasn't necessarily my wrists. It was my hands. That's all that was. It'll be fine. It has been my senior year. They beat us twice. Down in Florida, they were throwing it [Florida Gator Chomp] at us. They didn't have any respect for us. They were really confident and I was playing off emotion.
On what she has left for tomorrow:
It is Georgia-Tennessee. What more is there to be to get ready? I have no doubt in my mind that Ebony is ready to play. The rest of the team is going to be ready for tomorrow.
On being in early foul trouble:
It was hard, but my team fought. Boy, they fought. They came back from 11 down. It's hard from the standpoint that I want to help them, but it wasn't hard watching them do well. It shows that we have heart and can hold on.
JUNIOR FORWARD/CENTER EBONY FELDER
On what she has left for tomorrow:
I don't know. I guess we'll find out. It's not what you have, it's what you are putting forth. We have another challenge in front of us tomorrow. We have to pull it out again tomorrow night.
2004 SEC Tournament Results and Schedule
FIRST ROUND
Thursday, March 4
Game 1 - #8 Miss. St. def. #9 Arkansas 79-74
Game 2 - #7 Ole Miss def. #10 Alabama 63-56
Game 3 - #5 Georgia def. #12 South Carolina 74-42
Game 4 - #6 Vanderbilt def. #11 Kentucky 60-41
SECOND ROUND
Friday, March 5
Game 5 - #1 Tennessee def. Mississippi State 67-57
Game 6 - #2 LSU def. Ole Miss 79-66
Game 7 - #5 Georgia def. #4 Florida 76-72
Game 8 - #3 Auburn vs. Vanderbilt 9:30 p.m.
SEMINFINALS
Saturday, March 6
Game 9 - Tennessee vs. Georgia 7 p.m.
Game 10 - LSU vs. Auburn/Vanderbilt 9:30 pm
FINALS
Sunday, March 7
Game 11 - Game 9 winner vs. Gm 10 winner 4 p.m.
All Times EASTERN
END OF REPORT
