Sophomore Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) scored 25 points with 11 rebounds leading Florida to a 69-63 victory over Mississippi State Thursday evening in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
The Gators (9-21), who have won three of their last four games since a 13-game losing streak, became only the fifth No. 11 seed to defeat the No. 6 seed in the 28-year history of the tournament and the first since Arkansas downed Mississippi State in 2005.
Florida plays third-seeded Vanderbilt (24-5) on Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET in the quarterfinal round. The game will be televised live on FSN Florida through the Sunshine State, as well as on FSN South and FSN Southwest. The radio broadcast can be heard in Gainesville on ROCK 104FM and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com.
Sophomore Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) added 16 points, doing most of her offensive damage from the free throw line where she hit 9-of-9, while freshman Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) collected a career-high 11 rebounds, helping Florida enjoy a 48-37 rebounding advantage and overcome a poor shooting night when the Gators hit just 31.3 percent (20-64) from the floor, but more than made up for it from the free throw line by canning 27-of-31.
Mississippi State (17-13) used a 9-2 run during the first 7:18 of the second half, building on its one-point halftime lead to take a 39-31 advantage. Florida missed its first nine shots of the period before Dotson broke through with a jumper in the paint at the 12:26 mark.
The teams traded buckets before Dotson hit one free throw and a physical shot in the lane to cut the deficit to five and ignite an 11-2 run capped by a three-point play from Brooks, as the Gators took a 44-43 lead with 8:21 on the clock.
Again the teams exchanged scores for the next two minutes before Briana Phillips (Palmetto, Fla.) and Brooks tallied four straight and lifted Florida to a 50-47 advantage with just under six minutes remaining and the Gators wouldn't trail again, turning those four points into a 12-2 spree that resulted in a 58-49 lead with 1:24 remaining. The Bulldogs kept it interesting by hitting three 3-pointers and a regular field goal in the final 1:24 and forcing Florida to seal the game at the line, where the SEC's second-best free throw shooting team remained calm in the clutch and hit 13-of-15 to earn the hard-fought win.
Marneshia Richard scored a team-high 18 points for the Bulldogs, who shot just 35.8 percent during the game and committed 16 turovers.
Mississippi State was hot from long range to open the game, riding a pair of 3-pointers to a 10-4 lead in the first three minutes. Florida continued to drive and attack the basket, collecting multiple offensive rebounds that helped spark an 8-0 run over the next four minutes, as the Gators took a 12-10 lead. Dotson scored four points in the paint during the stretch, while Sharielle Smith and Depree Bowden hitting short jumpers.
After the teams traded buckets, the Bulldogs scored five straight points, but Dotson settled the Gators with an offensive rebound put-back and Smith sank a layin after a great dish from Jennifer Mossor to get Florida back on top, 18-17, with just over nine minutes left in the half.
MSU hit its fourth trey of the period to top the run, but Dotson again answered with a tough shot over defenders and Sha Brooks canned UF's first 3-pointer to give the Gators a 23-20 advantage. The teams exchanged shots for the next minute before the Bulldogs broke the trend and took a 26-25 lead with four minutes remaining. Both teams went cold from the floor, but Florida did get buckets from Brooks and Brittaney Thomas and assumed a 29-26 lead with a little over two minutes left. MSU scored the final two buckets of the period, including one from Tysheka Grimes with two seconds remaining that gave the Bulldogs a 30-29 halftime lead.
Neither team shot well in the opening half, as Florida hit 30 percent (12-40) and MSU just 33.3 percent (10-33). The Gators held a 28-19 rebounding advantage, which included nine offensive rebounds. Smith collected nine of the rebounds, which tied her career high for a game, while Dotson scored 10 points with seven boards, four on the offensive end. The opening 20 minutes featured eight lead changes and four tied scores.
FLORIDA COMPLETE POSTGAME QUOTES
THE MODERATOR: Joining us from Florida, head coach Carolyn Peck, Marshae Dotson and Sha Brooks.
Coach, if you could open with a comment.
COACH PECK: I would say that right now I've got to be the happiest coach in America. I have a group of nine young women that are going to leave it on the floor. (Tearing up) I'm going to make it through this. They're battling so hard and they're playing and showing a whole lot of heart.
I just appreciate the effort they have put in, what they've put in. We had two very good days of practice. Both practices lasted about 45 minutes because their focus was where it needed to be. My motto is: Why beat a dead horse? They were doing it right. They were working hard. 45 minutes, it's over. We shot our free throws, we're out of there. And it carried over.
Our game plan, their focus, all nine players came in and did what we needed them to do. None of us want this to be over, and they showed that tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Peck or the players.
Q. Marshae and Sha, can you talk about the emotion of the last few games, what's maybe clicked for you the last couple games?
SHA BROOKS: Like I said, every game we're not taking lightly. We go out there, we play our hardest. Coach tells us to penetrate, try to get to the basket. We work in practice on free throws because we penetrate in the game a lot, we have to hit our free throws.
All nine players, like coach said, we're giving 110% because we don't want this to be over. That's our emotion, we're not ready for this to be over.
MARSHAE DOTSON: I'm just glad we played it out, you know, the whole 40 minutes. That was the big deal this whole season, us coming in, playing hard in the second half and pretty much not the first. Kind of carried it on throughout the year and just put it all together. And, of course, we don't want it to be over.
Q. Why do you feel like the results are coming now that weren't coming a few weeks ago?
COACH PECK: Well, you know, I just felt like it was a matter of time for it all to click together. We've had so many different things to happen this season. Now we have the continuity. Everybody in that locker room is on the same mission. They are very unselfish. They're very passionate. There's a lot of love. That's why I think, you know, now it's clicking and paying attention.
I think also we've experienced some success now, and I think that that experience has been a great teacher for us, showing us what works, what's good for us, what our strengths are.
Q. Marshae and then Sha, at a time when no one would blame you for worrying about your future, what helped you stay focused on the present?
MARSHAE DOTSON: I don't know. I mean, I love the game. You know, a lot of people who are in my ear, Just keep playing hard and you can get to the next level, whatnot. I'm right here right now. I'm thinking about now pretty much not later.
SHA BROOKS: I don't really focus too much on the future because I just take it a day at a time. I guess our whole team just take it done day at a time. This is how I take my days.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the defense, especially when y'all had that stretch in the second half where you were able to hold State scoreless for a while?
COACH PECK: In everything that we did, whether it be man to man or zone, we had to play with a team concept because Mississippi State will post your guards up. We got to have help there. Then you have Jackson, who can post up big inside. On the three point shot, we mixed up between our man and our zone.
I think a big part, a big key to that had a lot to do with rebounding. I think Marshae played a big part in that. I think Sharielle Smith did, too. I just looked at the stat sheet. She ends up with 11 rebounds for the game coming off the bench. That's a lot of work. I think that also happens when, you know, you have your guards like Kim Dye and Jennifer Mossor boxing out, too.
I think the intensity of all nine players, because they all played, the intensity that they brought I think definitely helped us.
Q. Coach, what are some of your concerns about Vanderbilt?
COACH PECK: You know, I think my first concern is getting my team home and in bed tonight. I think that's our biggest concern. We know that they have great size, they've got great scorers. Dee Davis I think is one of the top point guards really in the country. Then you got Caroline Williams who can shoot it. You got Carla Thomas who plays big inside, then Liz Sherwood, woman of the year, came in. So the size factor I think, you know, is a concern.
The turnaround time for us to get ready I think is our biggest concern. It's why we want to go home and get to bed tonight and start letting the team prepare for Vanderbilt tomorrow.
END OF REPORT
