Sha Brooks scored a game-high 17 points while Depree Bowden added her first career double-double leading the University of Florida women's basketball team to a 62-50 victory over South Alabama at the Mitchell Center Friday evening.
The victory was the Gator's first on the road this season, while handing the Jaguars (3-4) their first home loss.
Brooks ignited UF's second-half opening run with a pair of three-pointers, as she scored all of her points in the final 21 minutes. Bowden recorded 10 points with a career-high 15 rebounds, while Marshae Dotson added 10 points and seven boards, as the Gators (4-4) held a 51-46 rebounding edge and got scoring from nine different players. Freshman LaToya Bullard had another solid performance, contributing five points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
“We got great minutes from our bench,” UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. “Brittaney Thomas, LaToya Bullard, Sharielle Smith, Jennifer Mossor and Jessica Jackson all came in the game and gave us a lift. They picked up our defensive intensity and that was key. That caused us to be able make a run offensively and attack the basket. Brittaney Thomas hit two jumpers that were another key in sparking our offense.”
Neither team shot well, as UF hit just 35 percent (21-60) from the floor, including an 18.8 percent (3-16) clip from the three-point arc, but held South Alabama to a mere 27.5 percent (19-69), including a 23.7 percent effort in the decisive second half when the Gators out-scored the hosts, 31-21.
“Our defensive intensity to start the second half was outstanding,” Peck said. “I really have to compliment Sha Brooks with leading that effort. She played at the top of the key and got several deflections that led to turnovers and transition layups for us. Depree Bowden was a rebounding machine tonight. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only player on the floor rebounding the ball. Her effort and focus on rebounding has been excellent in the last three games.”
Florida ripped out of the halftime locker room on a 12-0 run to take a 43-29 lead with 15:30 remaining. Sha Brooks ended the first half converting a three-point play and canned a pair of three-pointers to start UF's run. Marshae Dotson then added the next two buckets after running the floor hard and being rewarded with transition layups. LaToya Bullard capped the run with an offensive rebound put-back.
The Jaguars continued to battle and answered with a 9-2 run to cut UF's lead to seven points, 45-38, with 10:39 on the clock. But Brooks countered with her third trey of the game to give the Gators a double-digit advantage again. The teams then traded three points for the next four minutes and UF's lead hovered between seven and 10 points.
UF strung together four straight points after Brooks coolly sank four consecutive free throws that gave the Gators an 11-point lead, 57-46, with 4:17 left in the game. Monique Jones followed with a transition break-a-way for USA, but Dotson hit a fall-away 10-footer from the baseline as the shot clock expired on UF's next possession to lift the lead back to 11 with 3:34 remaining and the Jaguars spirits seemed to fall, with the Gators answering every possession to keep the lead a double-figures the rest of the game.
The first half was extremely tight, with eight lead changes and six tie scores in the opening 20 minutes. South Alabama led by as many as six points, 14-8, with 13:53 remaining, before the Gators roared back with an 8-1 run to take a 16-15 advantage with 8:39 on the clock. Alabama-native Brittaney Thomas contributed four points during the spree that also saw scoring from Depree Bowden and Jennifer Mossor.
From that point until the rest of the half, neither team was able to mount a significant run to get any distance. The Jaguars took a 29-26 lead with 1:11 left in the half before Sharielle Smith put-back on offensive rebound and Sha Brooks converted a three-point play after anticipating a steal at the top of UF's defense and dribble the entire length of the court and sank a layin and a free throw after being fouled with 18 seconds remaining, as the Gators entered halftime with a 31-29 lead.
Eight different Gators scored during the first half, with Bowden tallying a game-high 10 points and eight rebounds, leading UF's charge on the boards where the Gators held a 28-18 edge.
The Gators continue their three-game road trip traveling to Champaign, Ill., on Tuesday, December 5 to play Illinois at Assembly Hall beginning at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT). The radio broadcast of that game can be heard in Gainesville on WRUF 850AM and on the internet at www.GatorZone.com.
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