Senior Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) scored a season-high 25 points leading the University of Florida women's basketball team to a 65-60 upset victory over No. 21/19 Arizona State in the championship game of the Junkanoo Jam Lucaya Division played at St. Georges High School on Saturday.
Brooks, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, hit 8-of-12 from the floor, with 2-of-3 from the 3-point arc, while netting a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line to carry the Gators (6-1) to their second win over a top-25 ranked team in the last six days, having topped then-No. 22/21 Florida State, 72-57, on Nov. 23rd in Tallahassee.
Junior Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) also was voted to the All-Tournament Team, contributing five points, four rebounds, four assists, four steals and countless defensive deflections one night after scoring a career-high 14 points that helped Florida reach the title game.
The Junkanoo Jam Championship is the first regular-season title for the Gators in a tournament they have not hosted since Nov. 19, 2005, when they captured the Seton Hall Basketball Classic after victories against St. Francis (NY) and Seton Hall. The Gators' last win versus a top-25 ranked team on a neutral court was on Nov. 22, 1998, when Florida defeated then-No. 13 George Washington, 82-58, in Boston, Mass.
Saturday's victory did not come easily, however, as Florida led 61-46 with 5:11 remaining in the game, before Arizona State (3-2) mounted a furious rally using a 14-2 run that cut the Gator lead to three points, 63-60, with 49.2 seconds left.
With 23 seconds to go and the shot clock down to four seconds, Florida in-bounded the ball and it was immediately kicked by an Arizona State player, that reset the shot clock to 15 seconds.
The Sun Devils were forced to foul and sent Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) to the line, where she missed the front end of a one-and-one. Brooks, however, skied to corral the offensive board and was immediately fouled. Nearly an 80-percent free throw shooter for her career, UF's 5-foot-8 senior calmly nailed both clutch shots and sealed the victory.
Brooks, who hit her first eight field goal attempts, including a pair of three-pointers, recorded her second 20-plus point game of the season, with the other coming during Florida's first game against a top-25-ranked team, Florida State.
“I knew Sha was ready to play,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “She did not play her best (Friday) against Southern Illinois and she knew that. She's just one of those players who seems to rise up on big occasions. The bigger the game, the bigger the opponent, Sha is going to raise her game.
“Her scoring 25 points and consistency at the free-throw line was huge,” Butler continued. “But she was our only player who scored in double-figures tonight. When you see our points spread out among so many different players, it's so pleasing as a coach. We have a great balance and have so many people we can get scoring from every night.”
Dotson finished the game with nine points and a team-best seven rebounds, while Jennifer Mossor (Orlando, Fla.) and Azania Stewart (Green Wood, England) each tallied eight points. Mossor tied a career-high with five assists, while Stewart collected five rebounds, while hitting all four of her field goal attempts.
Briann January led Arizona State with 16 points, while dishing nine assists and collecting six steals. Lauren Lacey added 10 points and Sybil Dosty collected a game-high 12 rebounds with eight points for the Sun Devils, who shot just 36.1 percent from the floor, but did become the first team this season to out-rebound the Gators, holding the slim 33-32 edge.
“Our players just did a great job of knowing Arizona State's personnel,” Butler praised. “They knew who they were guarding. We did a good job of making them be more patient in the half-court offense than they wanted to be. They did us a favor in the first half by not hitting many shots, but they hit them in the second. I really was very pleased with our defensive effort. Scoring 65 points is great, but holding a team that's as explosive as Arizona State is to 60 points is a fantastic effort.
“Arizona State is a postseason team, there's no question about it. They are going to give everyone in the Pac-10 a run for their money. They are very, very talented. They've got great depth and have a great coach,” Butler said.
Arizona State scored the first four points of the game, but Brooks responded with the next five points of the game and Sorensen followed with a layup after she tipped a ball on the defensive end, that Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) collected loose ball and threw the long pass to a streaking Sorensen, who completed the play to give the Gators a 10-4 lead.
After January's bucket, Dotson's three-point play upped UF's lead to seven, but ASU countered and reduced the Gator lead to three. The teams traded scorers before Mossor nailed a trey from the right corner and Brooks tacked on the next five points, the last bucket a 3-pointer from the top of the arc after a cross-over dribble gave her just enough room to launch they trey.
Florida steadily built on its lead, extending it to 14 points twice in the final 1:22, as Aneika Henry (Coconut Grove, Fla.) hit a short jumper in the paint with three ticks on the clock that sent the Gators into the halftime locker room with a 34-20 lead.
“This win will be a confidence builder as our team continues to grow as we get closer to conference play,” Butler said. “We wanted to challenge our teams in a lot of different ways and the best way to do that is to play a national schedule and get yourself ready for conference and hopefully postseason play.
“You put your young players and experienced players in this type of situations that hopefully will lead to other championships. That's what we talked about in the locker room; this was our first opportunity this season to win a championship and they obviously rose to the challenge,” Butler said.
Hofstra defeated Southern Illinois, 71-67, in the third-place game.
Florida returns to action on Wednesday, December 3rd, when the team continues its four-game road swing by traveling to Birmingham, Ala., to play UAB with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET (5:50 p.m. CT). The radio broadcast of the game can be heard live in Gainesville on WRUF-AM850 and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com, the official website of the Florida Gators.
Post Game Notes:
*Sha Brooks started the 100th game of her career, becoming just the eighth game in program history to start as many. Saturday was Brooks' 98th consecutive starting assignment.
*Both of Brooks' 20-point games this season have been against ranked teams; she scored 24 in the win at Florida State, Nov. 23
*Jennifer Mossor topped the 400-point plateau during the game
*Marshae Dotson has grabbed at least one rebound in each of the 101 games she has played and has scored in 100, including in each of the last 72.
*Brooks had two steals against Arizona State and upped her career total to 199, needing one more to become the sixth Gator to collect 200 in a career.
*Florida won a tournament that it has not hosted for the first time since Nov. 19, 2005, when the Gators captured the Seton Hall Basketball Classic after victories against St. Francis (NY) and Seton Hall.
*Saturday's game against Arizona was Florida's second against a nationally-ranked team in the last six days, as the Gators defeated then-No. 22/21 Florida State, 72-57, on Sun., Nov. 23.
*Florida is now 55-153 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents, including a 10-24 record on a neutral court. The Gators' last win prior to Saturday's victory versus a top-25 ranked team on a neutral court was on Nov. 22, 1998, when Florida defeated then-No. 13 George Washington, 82-58, in Boston, Mass.
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