Senior Dalila Eshe (Tallahassee) tied her career-high of 25 points and freshman Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) added 18, but it wasn't enough as Florida lost at Auburn, 73-58 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
The Gators (19-7, 7-6 SEC), who were coming off Thursday's stunning upset of No. 2 LSU, shot just 35.5 percent (22-62) from the floor and never seemed in sync against the taller Tigers (13-12, 4-8), who hit 49.1 percent (28-57), scored 38 points in the paint and held a 40-35 rebounding advantage.
“We did not do a good job of defending the paint and we knew that Auburn was going to pound the ball inside to KeKe Carrier,” UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. “Nitasha Brown also got hot and it was senior night here and she stepped up – we know what that's like.”
DeWanna Bonner led Auburn with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Marita Payne added 14 points, Brown tallied 11 and Whitney Boddie rebounded from a two-game suspension to score 10 off the bench. Carrier, a 6-foot-7 center, recorded all of her eight points in the first half to match her eight rebounds
Eshe and Brooks were the only double-figure scorers for Florida, who had its three-game winning streak against Auburn snapped.
“Dalila and Sha stepped up offensively, but we usually have to have three players clicking,” Peck said. “We just didn't have that today. Danielle (Santos) couldn't get her shot to fall and Brittany (Davis) couldn't finish inside. We only had 13 turnovers, but to me it seemed like a million because they were bad ones that came at crucial times and that had a lot to do with the outcome.”
With Auburn holding a 43-31 lead, Eshe nailed a three-pointer and Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) followed with a three-point play as the Gators closed the gap to six points, 43-35, with 14:35 remaining. But Brown nailed a deep three-pointer that seemed to quell the Gator's spirit and ignite Auburn, as her trey strated a 17-6 spree and the Tigers built a 60-43 lead with 6:20 left.
Florida staged a furious rally, cutting Auburn's lead to eight points, 64-56, behind a 10-2 run, but couldn't overcome the large deficit, as the Tigers made their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win and snap their four-game losing streak.
The Tigers roared out of the gate, jumping out to a 5-0 lead, while the Gators missed their first four shots. Florida tied the game with a trey and a jumper from Dalila Eshe, but Auburn scored the next five points. The Gators continued to whittle the deficit between three and five points over the ensuing 10 minutes until Joanna Clayden canned a three-pointer and extended Auburn's lead to seven points with 5:30 remaining the half. Eshe countered with a three-point play, but Alexis Ogubie and Whitney Boddie hit back-to-back buckets and the Tigers took an eight-point advantage, 29-21, with just over three and half minutes left before the break.
Turnovers and cold shooting continued to plague the Gators, who hit just one field goal in the final 5:15 of the first half and found themselves trailing at the break for the 14th time this season, 36-25.
Florida struggled with its shot in the first half, hitting just 36.0 percent (9-25), while committing eight turnovers. Eshe accounted for 14 of the Gators' 25 points, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor and provided UF's lone field goal in the final 5:15 of the opening stanza.
The taller Tigers held a 19-15 rebounding edge and scored 24 of their 36 points in the paint, while shooting 47.1 percent (16-34) from the floor. Six-foot-7 KeKe Carrier scored eight points with seven rebounds, while Boddie, who had been suspended from the previous two games, showed no signs of rust in netting eight points with four assists.
The Gators have a mid-week bye before playing their regular season finale, scheduled for Sunday, February 26 in Knoxville against fifth-ranked Tennessee (24-3, 10-2 SEC) beginning at 3 p.m. ET. The radio broadcast of the game can be heard live in Gainesville on WRUF-850AM and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com. The game also will be televised by CSS, but unavailable in Gainesville.
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