All 12 Gators scored and two totaled in double-digits as the Florida women's basketball squad defeated Florida A&M 73-58 in a Wednesday matinee at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Gator freshman Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field including 5-of-8 three-pointers, while UF senior Brittany Davis (Gainesville, Fla.) poured in 16 with a game-high eight rebounds to improve Florida's record to 9-1, which includes a current streak of seven straight victories, the longest under head coach Carolyn Peck, who is in her fourth year with the Gators.
“I thought this was a good win from the standpoint that we were able to get a lot of playing time for several players,” Peck said. “Everyone played well and played hard. This experience will pay off for us as the season goes along.”
“We are very excited to have nine wins prior to the Christmas break. This senior class only reached nine wins total in their first season here, and I wanted them to realize how much the freshman and sophomore classes have helped them reach that win total before we broke for the holidays.”
The Rattlers (2-6) came out with an aggressive pressure defense that forced nine Gator turnovers in the first half. The game was tied three times and featured four lead changes in the first 10 minutes. After Davis made a layup with 9:53 remaining in the period to put the Gators up 21-19, Florida never looked back and led by as many as 15 during a 24-9 run to close the half.
Florida made the most of eight Florida A&M first-half fouls, going 10-of-12 from the charity stripe en route to a 43-28 halftime lead. Ten different Gators registered points in the first 20 minutes, led by Brooks with 12, a total that included three clutch treys.
“Sha is a little under the weather right now, and I thought she played a tremendous game for us today,” Peck added. “With this being our last game before Christmas and knowing that the girls have a couple of days off, most players would take this game off being under the weather. Sha played hard from start to finish today, and I'm proud of her for it.”
A trio of FAMU players reached double-figures as Deidra Jones (19), Q'Vaunda Curry (15) and LaKeisha Alexander (12) led a Rattlers attack that shot 38.2 percent from the floor while hitting 8-of-20 from the three-point arc.
Florida won the rebounding battle 40-32, which included a very balanced attack on the boards with 22 coming on the defensive side and 18 coming off missed shots. After giving up 24 offensive rebounds to Texas-Arlington earlier in the week, the Gators limited the Rattlers to only 13.
“We had a challenge to limit our opponent to 13 offensive rebounds today,” Peck said. “We did a good job of reaching that goal. We had a very high accountability in our players to make sure this goal was met.”
“This was a big win for this team as we will head into our post-Christmas games. We will look at the film on December 26 and try to come up with a few new wrinkles as we get closer to SEC play.”
The Gators will host the round-robin State Farm Classic Dec. 28-30 with Rhode Island and Liberty. Tipoff for the Dec. 28 opener against Rhode Island is set for 7 p.m. EST. Fans can follow along with the action on the Internet via GatorVision Online.
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