University of Florida women's basketball sophomore Sha Brooks scored a career-high 27 points, while junior Depree Bowden continued her rebounding presence, collecting 12 for her second straight double-figure rebounding game, but a season-low shooting night resulted in an 80-57 loss to Illinois Tuesday evening at Assembly Hall.
Florida (4-5) just couldn't find its offensive stroke, shooting a season-low 29 percent (20-69) from the floor, including a 24 percent clip (7-29) in the first half, and just 2-of-22 from long range, while the Fighting Illini (7-2) hit 45.8 percent, including a 7-for-19 effort from the three-pointer arc.
Illinois closed the first half on a 19-2 run to break open a close game and hand Florida its fourth road loss of the season.
“Illinois play one heck of a game,” UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. “What ever went wrong during their loss to Ole Miss, they fixed in a hurry. We played with such a high intensity in the first few minutes of the game and when we went to our bench, everyone seemed to let down. I challenged our seniors in the locker room at the end of the game because we have to have better consistency inside and out. We need to have every one come ready to play every night. We were not game-ready today and that's very disappointing. We made some crucial mistakes and really just allowed them to pick us apart. That's totally unacceptable.”
Bowden scored the first bucket of the second half and cut UF's halftime deficit to 15 points, 39-24, but Illinois responded with a 7-0 spurt and later used a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Jenna Smith's 22 points led four Illinois players in double-figures, as the Fighting Illini enjoyed a 54-33 rebounding advantage en route to their sixth consecutive home victory.
Florida did force 21 turnovers which it converted into 27 points, while committing just 10 miscues of its own.
Sha Brooks was all over the court in the opening minutes of the game, having a hand in all of the Gator's first three scoring plays that lifted UF to a 5-0 lead. Illinois fought back and whittled the lead down to one, 10-9, with just under 15 minutes left in the half.
Brooks then canned a three-pointer and Jennifer Mossor stole the ensuing in-bound pass and sank a layin to extend UF's lead to six points, 15-9, with 14:22 on the clock.
That's when Illinois' Lori Bjork hit a trey to spark an 11-0 run over the next three minutes as the home team took a 20-15 advantage with a little under 11 minutes left in the period.
The Gators battled right back with a 5-0 run to tie the score at 20-all, as Kim Dye and Briana Phillips each converted driving layups and Jessica Jackson hit one free throw. Unfortunately, that would be the last time UF's offense would click in the half, as the Fighting Illini went on a devastating 17-0 run in just under eight minutes to roar out to a 37-20 lead with 1:14 remaining. Depree Bowden finally stopped the run, but Jenna Smith answered with a bucket to end of the half's scoring, with Illinois holding a 39-22 lead.
Florida shot a woeful 24.1 percent (7-29) in the first half, hitting just 1-of-9 from long range, and was out-rebounded 24-16. Illinois nailed 45.4 percent (15-33) of its shots and held a slim 14-10 advantage in points in the paint.
The Gators did score 10 points off six Illinois turnovers, while committing just four miscues during the opening 20 minutes.
Florida concludes its three-game road trip on Friday, traveling to Fort Worth, Texas, to face red-hot TCU (4-3) at Daniel Meyer-Coliseum beginning at 9 p.m. ET (8 pm CT). The radio broadcast of that game can be heard in Gainesville on WRUF 850AM and on the internet at www.GatorZone.com and also will be televised by The mnt.
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