Senior forward Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) scored a game-high 16 points and Florida posted its largest win since Dec. 28, 2006 in a 82-46 victory against Stetson on Thursday in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The Gators (2-1) have now won back-to-back games by 20 or more points for the first time since defeating Alabama A&M and Florida A&M on Dec. 29, 2007 and Jan. 2, 2008. For the second consecutive game, Florida held its opponent under 25 percent shooting from the floor, limiting the Hatters (1-3) to just 24.2 percent (16-of-66) shooting for the game.
Florida shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the floor in the game, marking the first time that the Gators have shot better than 50 percent in consecutive games since doing so against Western Michigan and California, Dec. 28-29, 1998.
“I'm very pleased with the way we played tonight,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler said. “It's nice when you have a game where you can reward the entire team for how hard they have worked every single week in practice. We were able to let everybody on the roster get in at some point and let them be rewarded for the past couple days of practice.”
A balanced attack was the key to the Florida victory, as six players scored seven or more points and three players brought down five or more rebounds. Each of Florida's 14 players who dressed for the game saw action and 12 of those players scored at least two points.
“I thought we had great balance again, rebounding and scoring,” Butler said. “We're very good when we start quickly. When we come out and establish ourselves early and set the tempo, especially with our defense, we have a chance to be a very good team.”
Dotson, who has scored in double figures in each of Florida's three games this season and 54 times in her career, just missed notching her 17th career double-double by finishing with nine rebounds and going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line in just 19 minutes of action.
Senior center Aneika Henry (Coconut Grove, Fla.) tied her season high with 12 points, going a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor, while junior guard Jennifer Mossor (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.
Junior forward Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) and junior guard Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) each chipped in eight points, with Smith going a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and bringing down five rebounds.
For the second consecutive game, Florida's post presence was a major factor in its victory, as the Gators out-scored Stetson 40-20 in the paint. For the season, Florida has out-scored the opposition 128-62 in the paint for a +22 ratio in that statistical category. The Gators out-rebounded the Hatters, 50-34, their largest edge on the boards this season.
“We've put a lot of emphasis, especially in the last two ballgames, on taking advantage of our size,” Butler said. “We've been emphasizing to our players to importance of taking ownership of the paint and they've really taken that to heart.”
Florida took a 36-18 advantage into the locker room at intermission, after holding Stetson without a field goal for the final 7:41 of the half. The Gators limited the Hatters to just 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from the field in the first half and out-rebounded Stetson, 16-11.
The two teams battled evenly to begin the game before Florida, leading 13-12 at the 11:29 mark of the opening period, went on a 9-0 run over the next 3:25, capped off by back-to-back baskets by Henry that put the Gators ahead 22-12. After both teams went scoreless for just more than three minutes, Florida ran off 11 consecutive points to go up 33-14 with 1:36 remaining until intermission. Smith had six points during that stretch.
Early in the second half, Stetson inched to within 18 points, 42-24, with 17:30 left, but Brooks nailed a basket and Sorensen drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to extend Florida's advantage to 23, 47-24. With the Gators leading 54-28, Susan Yenser (Marietta, Ga.) and Mossor hit back-to-back 3s to give Florida a 60-28 advantage with 13:12 to go. The Hatters would get no closer than 28 points the rest of the way.
Stetson was led by Jessica Bivins' team-high 13 points and five steals. Jessica Connor tallied a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.
“I thought Florida did a really good job tonight,” Stetson head coach Lynn Bria said. “I think the game came down to one thing – they just killed us in the paint and we did not have an answer. They did a nice job of getting the ball inside and I think it just came down to the points in the paint.”
Florida returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Tallahassee, Fla., to take on No. 22/21 Florida State. Tip-off in the Donald L. Tucker Center is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised live statewide on FSN Florida. The radio broadcast of the game can be heard live in Gainesville on WRUF-FM 103.7, and through www.GatorZone.com, the official website of the Florida Gators.
“There's not anything about that ballgame that is going to be easy for any one of us,” Butler said of the match-up against the Seminoles (3-0). “We've got to do a great job out of the gates against at top-25 team. I think preparation for that game is going to have a lot to do with the outcome.”
POST-GAME NOTES
· Florida now leads the all-time series with Stetson 21-3 and has won 11 consecutive meetings with the Hatters.
· The Gators are now 204-59 all-time vs. teams from within the state of Florida. The Hatters are the third of five Sunshine State schools that Florida is scheduled to face in 2008-09.
· UF is 58-9 all-time vs. teams in the current alignment of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
· The Gators have a 10-game home winning streak vs. non-conference opponents.
· The game marked the second of four contests that Florida will play in an eight-day stretch.
· Florida has now won back-to-back games by 20 or more points for the first time since defeating Alabama A&M and Florida A&M on Dec. 29, 2007 and Jan. 2, 2008.
· Florida shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the floor in the game, marking the first time that the Gators have shot better than 50 percent in back-to-back games since doing so against Western Michigan and Cal Dec. 28-29, 1998.
· Sha Brooks started her 94th consecutive game, the second-longest in program history.
· Marshae Dotson has scored in double figures in each of this season's three games and 54 times in 97 career games.
· For the season, Florida has out-scored the opposition 128-62 in the paint for a +22 ratio in that statistical category on the year.
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