Sophomore Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) scored a career-high 28 points and sophomore Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) also reached double digits for the fifth-straight game by chipping in 14 points, but it wasn't enough for the University of Florida women's basketball team to fend off a strong second-half performance by Arkansas as the Gators fell 67-57 Sunday afternoon in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
“The season is about learning and improving, and one of our focuses for this game was to have a better start than we did in the Tennessee and Auburn games. We also wanted to work on our defense, and I think we did both of those things this afternoon,” Florida head coach Carolyn Peck said. “I saw a lot of improvement from this team today.”
Florida allowed visiting Tennessee and Auburn to jump out to big early leads in its last two home games, as the Gators were forced to play catch-up. On Sunday, Florida came ready to play, building a 15-point lead, 25-10 with 5:50 remaining in the first half, but couldn't close the period with the same intensity, as Arkansas whittled the Gators' halftime lead to six, 28-22.
After increasing its lead to eight points just moments into the second half, Florida (6-14, 0-5 SEC) allowed Arkansas to inch within three less than three minutes into the period. Brooks and Dotson combined for all six of the Gators points in the first three minutes while the Lady Razorbacks (18-3, 3-2 SEC) posted nine points to trail, 34-31.
Brooks nailed her fourth trey of the afternoon and Dotson added two additional points to build Florida's lead to 39-31, but Arkansas wouldn't back down and capitalized on a 6-2 run to cut the Gators' lead to two, 41-39, with 11 minutes remaining in the half.
Following a basket by Brooks at the 10:57 mark, Arkansas' Dominique Washington closed the gap further with a trey for a one-point Florida lead. The teams traded points from the charity stripe, but it wasn't until the 7:07 mark that Arkansas knotted the score at 46-all on a free throw by Brittney Vaughn. Smith laid one in 30 seconds later to reclaim the Gators' lead, but Arkansas' Donica Cosby recorded a pair from the line to tie the game again. Brooks came within one of her former career-high 27 points with a basket from the line before Arkansas' Vaughn put it back in the lead and Cosby added five more points for a six-point UA lead, 55-49, with four minutes remaining.
Dotson's bucket at the 3:55 mark put UF back within four, and after trading points, Arkansas put in two straight for a 61-54 lead. Brooks answered with a pair from the line, but it wasn't enough as the Lady 'Backs hit 4-of-6 from the line in the final seconds and added a layup for the 67-57 victory.
The Gators came out strong in the opening half as they answered the Lady Razorbacks' first basket of the game with a 9-0 run that featured four points by Brooks, a layup from Dotson and a trey by senior Kim Dye (Fayetteville, Tenn.). After a pair of Arkansas layups, Florida held a 9-6 lead at the 12:35 mark before Brooks rattled off three straight 3-pointers for the largest lead of the half, 25-10. The two teams traded the next few baskets, and Florida held a 10-point lead, 26-16, with four minutes remaining. Arkansas' defense allowed Florida just one basket, a layup by Dotson, in the final span, and it used a 6-2 run to cut the Gators' halftime lead to six points, 28-22.
“I thought we played really well in the first half, but I knew going into halftime that we were still going to have to put two halves together to get the win,” Brooks said. “We have improved a lot from the beginning of the season, and if we continue to work hard at practice and come into these games and just get it done, then we'll be all right.”
“I watched several tapes of Florida, and we talked to the team about how Florida jumped out to quick starts. We got down by 12, but I felt pretty good going into the second half and only being down by six,” Arkansas head coach Susie Gardner said. “Once we tied and got the lead, we found ways to continue to make big plays.”
Brooks tallied 15 of her 28 points in the first half on 6-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-7 from long distance. Bowden pulled down six boards in the opening stanza, and Dye chipped in an additional six points on 2-0f-5 shooting from beyond the arc. As a team, the Gators out-shot the Lady Razorbacks 35.5 percent (11-of-31) to 28.1 percent (9-of-32).
Florida freshman Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) recorded three points and six rebounds in her first collegiate start, while and Dye and junior Depree Bowden (Palmetto, Fla.) added six and four points, respectively. Bowden led the Gators with nine rebounds, while Brooks dished out a team-high four assists with four steals.
The Lady 'Backs' Lauren Ervin pulled down 20 boards, including seven offensive rebounds, to set an Arkansas SEC single-game record. Ervin's 10 points led to her ninth double-double of the season, and Washington (11), Vaughn (14) and Cosby (15) and each scored in double figures.
Florida will continue SEC action on the road this week as it travels to South Carolina for a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday, Jan. 25. The radio broadcast of that game can be hear in Gainesville on WRUF 850AM and on the internet through www.GatorZone.com.
END OF REPORT
