Florida played its best first-half of basketball, taking a six-point halftime lead on the road at Louisville. The second half, however, belong to the Cardinals, who scored the first 19 points of the second half and outscored the Gators 18-8 in the final five and half minutes to take the 79-62 decision on Sunday afternoon at Freedom Hall.
Florida (4-4), which was playing its fourth game in eight days, began to rally after the Cardinal's second-half-opening stretch and dropped the deficit to seven points with over seven minutes to play. Louisville (4-2), however, looked like a team that was playing its first game after an eight-day rest, and denied the Gators their first road win of the season.
“We played a great first-half of basketball, but we lost all of that momentum in the second half,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “We have to believe that when we're down a few points with several minutes left, we can still win the game and for some reason we don't. We're deep enough, good enough and talented enough to be able to win close ballgames, but we don't believe that it's going to happen for us. It was the story against Florida State, against Jacksonville and again was the story for us in tonight's game. We just don't believe we can come back and win.”
Marshae Dotson led nine different Gators who scored, as she posted her fourth double-double of the year and the 11th of her career with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sha Brooks and Jennifer Mossor scored nine points each for Florida, which committed 31 turnovers and shot 34.3 percent (22-64) for the game, including 25.7 percent (9-35) in the deciding second half.
“We're trying to break old, bad habits and we're learning painful lessons,” Butler added. “We're just turning the ball over too many times and it's clearly a problem. When we couldn't score to start the second half and they did, we got rattled and let it affect our energy level. Neither of us could score to open the game but we kept our confidence.”
UL All-American Angel McCoughtry tallied 22 points with nine steals and eight rebounds, but it was Keshia Hines who garnered top scoring honors with 25 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Louisville ripped out of the halftime locker room with an 19-0 run, quickly erasing Florida's four-point lead to take a 51-38 advantage.
Depree Bowden ended the Gator drought with a deep two-point jumper with 13 minutes remaining, but the Cardinals followed with two more buckets and built a 55-40 cushion. Lonnika Thompson stopped the run with a 3-pointer and put the Gators within 12.
The teams traded field goals for the next two minutes before Florida used a 7-0 run, as Marshae Dotson put back an offensive rebound, Brittaney Thomas collected steal and raced the length of the court for the layup and Sha Brooks nailed a 3-pointer in front of the Gator bench to bring Florida within seven points, 59-52, with just over seven minutes left.
UL's Keshia Hines hit a jumper to stop UF's run and Thomas answered with a bucket to keep the Gators within seven. After the teams exchanged points, the Cardinals started to take control with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 68-54 lead with just over five minutes left. During the run Florida turned the ball over three times and managed just one shot attempt, as Louisville turned up its defense and foul trouble put several starters on the bench for UF. That 7-0 run began the game-ending 18-8 march that put the game out of reach.
The first six minutes of the game could not have been any closer, with the teams traded shot for shot on each possession. The Cardinals struck first and the Gators responded to tie the score, as the pattern continued until Marshae Dotson hit a tough inside shot and Sha Brooks followed with a pair of free throws to give Florida its first lead of the game. Louisville answered with two buckets and claimed the two-point advantage.
That's when Brooks drove the lane, was fouled and extended her made free throw streak while sparking a 6-0 run that gave UF a 14-10 lead. UL's Brandie Radde nailed a three-pointer, but Dotson countered with an old fashion 3-point play and Sharielle Smith followed with a pair from the charity stripe, as the Gators' lead grew to six, 19-13, with just under nine minutes remaining in the half.
McCoughtry, who had six points to this stage of the game, started to heat up, scoring the next four points of the game and Radde added a trey to swing the lead back to the Cardinals.
The teams traded field goals before Kim Critton skied for an offensive rebound, put back the miss while being fouled and converted the 3-point play to give UF a two-point lead. The teams again exchanged field goals over the next minute before Jennifer Mossor ended the Gator's cold spell from the 3-point arc by canning one from the left side and ignite a 7-0 spurt and give UF a 33-26 lead with 2:22 remaining.
McCoughtry prevented Florida from pulling away, scoring Louisville's final six points of the half, while Smith added a tough jumper in the lane and Mosser canned her second trey with 11 seconds left to give the Gators a 38-32 halftime lead.
Six different Gators scored during the opening frame led by a team-high nine points from Dotson, while McCoughtry carried the Cardinals with 18 points during the opening 20 minutes that featured seven lead changes and seven tied scores.
Florida returns to action on Tuesday, when the Gators play host to Florida Gulf Coast (2-3) in the O'Connell Center beginning at 7 p.m. The radio broadcast of the game will air live in Gainesville on WRUF 850AM and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com.
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