Florida sophomore Sharielle Smith contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds to post the first double-double of her career, but it wasn't enough to overcome a season-high performance from Georgia All-American Tasha Humphry, who led the 24th-ranked Lady Bulldogs to an 85-66 victory on Thursday evening at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Gators (15-10, 4-6 SEC) committed 21 turnovers that Georgia (18-7, 5-5 SEC) converted into 38 points, while the home team shot 47.8 percent from the floor, canning 10-of-27 three-pointers in the process. Florida hit 36.4 percent of its shots and was out-rebounded by two, 38-36 against the taller Bulldogs.
“We didn't take care of the basketball,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “We have to stop putting ourselves in a position where we are turning the ball over before we have a chance to run any of our offense. That happened a lot. We were aggressive and it was well-intentioned, but it wasn't smart play.”
After Georgia scored the opening bucket of the second half to extend its lead to 19 points, the Gators stormed back with a 14-5 march thanks to scoring from five different players and were within 10 points, 55-44, with just over 15 minutes remaining. Jennifer Mossor started the run with a pair of free throws and followed with a three-point play. After a UG trey from Christy Marshall, Kim Critton hit a jumper and Depree Bowden converted a transition layup. Sharielle Smith nailed a three-pointer and Brittaney Thomas hit a fall-away 8-footer to cap the spree.
Marshall stopped the run with an offensive rebound put-back off a missed shot that was launched as the shot clock was expiring. Tasha Humphrey then added her third three-pointer and UF's deficit jumped back to 15 points with just under 12 minutes to go and the Gators were unable to stage another run.
“Georgia played with a lot of confidence during the end of the first half,” Butler said. “Tasha Humphrey decided she was going to take of the game and we didn't do anything to stop her. She just out-played us. We got out-played in the paint again, which is disappointing for us because that is an area of our game that really is a strength, but we're really not handling it well right now.”
Sha Brooks added 12 points and five rebounds for Florida, while Depree Bowden tallied 12.
“Kim Critton was a bright spot for us,” Butler said. “She played hard and about as well as she could every time she stepped on the court. The same thing goes for Sharielle Smtih, she battled and hit some big three-pointers. Clearly, we needed other people to step and it's disappointing. On the road you have to do a much better job of protecting the basketball than we did. We lost our composure in crucial moments and you just can't do that.”
Critton played 17 minutes and scored seven points with three rebounds for the Gators.
Humphrey led four Lady Bulldogs in double-figures, contributing 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting that included a 3-of-5 effort from the three-point arc. Angela Puleo tallied 18 points and Christy Marshall added 16, as the trio combined for 66 of the 85 total points for Georgia, which shot a steady 47.8 percent from the floor, including 10-of-27 from the three-point arc.
Florida used an 11-2 run and cut a 10-point deficit over a 2 minute 37 second span down to one point, 24-23, with 7:46 remaining in the first half, forcing Georgia to call a timeout. The Lady Bulldogs regrouped and exploded on a devastating 24-8 run the rest of the period to take a 48-31 halftime lead.
Georgia used keen outside shooting during the first 20 minutes, hitting 50 percent overall from the floor, including an 8-for-17 effort from beyond the three-point arc. Puleo canned 4-of-5 from long range, while Humphrey nailed 2-of-4 from behind the arc as part of her 16-point effort.
Florida returns to action on Sunday, when the Gators play host to Arkansas (17-7, 2-7 SEC) in the O'Connell Center beginning at 2 p.m. The radio broadcast of the game can be heard live in Gainesville on WRUF-850AM and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com, the official website of the Florida Gators.
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