Last Friday night, the Florida women's basketball team missed each of its first 11 shots from beyond the arc against No. 25 Pittsburgh. It was a much different story on Tuesday night, when the Gators opened the game 4-for-4 from 3-point range and finished by tying a home record with 11 treys in a 75-39 win against UAB in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
A balanced attack led the Gators (2-2) to the victory, as each of the 12 players who suited up for the game scored and five different players made 3-pointers for the first time since Feb. 1, 2009, when a quintet of Gators combined to hit a program-record 13 at Arkansas. Florida's 11 3-pointers marked the fourth time in program history that the team has connected on 11 treys in a home game.
Florida shot an impressive 56.5 (26-of-46) percent from the floor, including a 52.4 (11-of-21) percent clip from the 3-point arc. The Gators out-rebounded the Blazers 47-30, charting their most rebounds since bringing down 48 against Alabama on Feb. 5, 2009.
“This was a great win and I'm very proud of our effort,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler said. “I'm especially proud of our team's response after a challenging two days of practice and preparation. One of the strengths of our team is the way they respond when they are challenged. The past two days were really challenging in a lot of ways, getting us ready for another opportunity to prove ourselves and bounce back. That's what we did tonight.”
Senior guard Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) tied her career high with 15 points, marking the fourth time in her collegiate career she has accomplished that feat. She knocked down a career-high-tying five 3-pointers, which matched her personal-best of five accomplished Dec. 21, 2008 against Pittsburgh.
Three Gators – Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.), Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) and Susan Yenser (Marietta, Ga.) – each scored nine points in the game. Smith came close to a double-double bringing down eight rebounds, while Yenser connected on two 3-pointers and brought down a season-high six rebounds with a season-high four assists, as she responded to being in the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 19, 2009, when she got the call against Arkansas; tonight marked her 11th career start in a Gator uniform.
Butler used a new-look lineup in Tuesday's game, designed to bring out energy from sophomore forward Ndidi Madu (Antioch, Tenn.) and increased leadership and another shooting threat in Yenser.
“We obviously started the game very well today,” Butler said. “Ndidi [Madu] gives us a lot of energy and I thought that was a big impact for us early. We challenged our team in practice to show us in a number of different ways who was going to compete, step up and play tough. It's a work in progress. We're interested in who is going to start well and who is going to finish well. I think we're slowly getting answers to those questions.”
Madu brought down a career-high nine rebounds to complement eight points and two steals in 22 minutes of play in the first starting role of her career. Jones tied her career high with four steals and also dished out four assists. She is now averaging 4.75 assists per game during the 2009-10 campaign.
Freshman forward Lily Svete (Granger, Ind.) knocked down the first two 3-pointers of her collegiate career, charting a career-high six points. She was incredibly efficient, tallying that point total in just eight minutes of action.
The Gators took a 40-18 advantage into intermission after shooting 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the floor and an unthinkable 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from 3-point range.
Florida opened the game on a 3-point shooting barrage with three consecutive treys by a trio of different players to race to a 9-2 lead at the 17:42 mark of the opening period and force UAB head coach Audra Smith to burn an early timeout. A 3-pointer by Smith with 15:34 left in the half extended the Gators' lead to 12-4, as Florida opened the game a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
That's when the Gators went cold from the floor, missing each of their next four shots and allowing UAB to go on a 6-1 run that brought them within three, 13-10, at the 11:54 mark. A jumper by Smith ended UF's scoring drought before Svete hit back-to-back 3s to put Florida ahead 21-10 with 10:29 left. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Sorensen widened the Gator advantage to 16 points, 32-16, with 4:29 remaining in the half.
The second half started much differently than the first period, as the two teams accounted for just 14 total points over the first eight minutes of the second frame. The Blazers began slowly chipping away at their deficit, cutting to within 15, 55-30, with just more than 10 minutes remaining, but would get no closer the remainder of the way.
UAB (1-3) was led by forward Tamika Dukes' 12 points and six rebounds. Florida held the Blazer's sharpshooter Amanda Peterson to just one 3-pointer in the game, after she entered the contest with 142 career treys just four games into her third season with the program and ranks sixth on the school's all-time 3-pointers made list.
“I just want to commend Florida on having a great game plan,” Audra Smith said. “They have some great shooters in Susan Yenser and Steffi Sorensen. They were ready, coming right out of the gate spotting them at the 3-point arc. This is what we talked about during warm-ups and scouting reports - that is what they do well. They are a solid team, and execute well. They were patient beyond the arc, and played great as a team.”
Florida returns to action on Friday, when it faces St. John's in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be carried live on WBXY-FM (The Star 99.5 in Gainesville).
POST-GAME NOTES
- Florida leads the all-time series with UAB, 4-0, but Tuesday's contest marked only the second time the two teams have met since 1983. Florida defeated UAB 77-75 last year in Birmingham, Ala.
- The Gators are 34-13 all-time vs. teams in the current alignment of Conference USA.
- A balanced attack led the Gators to the victory as each of the 12 players who suited up for the game scored.
- Florida's 11 3-pointers tied a home record and marked the fourth time in program history that the team has connected on 11 treys in a home game.
- Five different UF players made 3-pointers for the first time since Feb. 1, 2009.
- The Gators out-rebounded the Blazers 47-30, charting their most rebounds since bringing down 48 against Alabama on Feb. 5, 2009.
- The Gators used the starting lineup of Jordan Jones, Ndidi Madu, Sharielle Smith, Steffi Sorensen and Susan Yenser, marking the second different line-up the team has utilized in four games this year.
- Senior Susan Yenser earned a spot in the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 19, 2009, when she got the call against Arkansas; tonight marked her 11th career start in a Gator uniform.
- Sophomore Ndidi Madu earned a spot in the starting lineup for the first time in her career.
- Madu brought down a career-high nine rebounds in the game.
- Senior guard Steffi Sorensen tied career highs in points (15) and 3-pointers made (5).
WATCH: Amanda Butler and Players Postgame Press Conference
FLORIDA HEAD COACH AMANDA BUTLER
“This was a great win and I'm very proud of our effort. I'm especially proud of our team's response after a challenging two days of practice and preparation. One of the strengths of our team is the way they respond when they are challenged. The past two days were really challenging in a lot of ways, getting us ready for another opportunity to prove ourselves and bounce back. That's what we did tonight.”
On going with a different starting lineup than the previous three games …
“We obviously started the game very well today. Ndidi [Madu] gives us a lot of energy and I thought that was a big impact for us early on. We challenged our team in practice to show us in a number of different ways who was going to compete, step up and play tough. It's a work in progress. We're interested in who is going to start well and who is going to finish well. I think we're slowly getting answers to those questions.”
On overcoming some shooting slumps …
“I was happy for Steffi [Sorensen] and happy for Lily [Svete]. It was a little sigh of relief – we knew it was going to happen because we've got great shooters. What you hope is, when the shots aren't falling, that you see the kind of resilience that we saw from Steffi. It's all about confidence and resilience.”
On the team's defensive play …
“I felt like the defense came first and really set the tone. That led into our offense tonight.”
#10 Steffi Sorensen, Sr., G
On knocking down a career-high-tying five 3-pointers in the game …
“Every shot is different. The first shot was a play we had practiced. I just kind of shot it and was confident in my shooting. The biggest thing going into the game was, even if my shot wasn't falling, I was just going to play hard. It felt good that they finally did start going in, but I definitely didn't want that to start affecting other parts of my game.”
On whether successful shooting is contagious on a team …
“Apparently, because today shots were falling and that generates a lot of energy for our team. We're a shooting team and we can't let that [shots not going in] affect us. We really have to rely on our defense and know teams top to bottom. I thought we were able to shut down a lot of their plays today and it showed on the scoreboard.”
#14 Ndidi Madu, So., F
On her start in today's game …
“It was different starting the game, but whether I'm coming off the bench or starting, I'm just ready to play either way.”
UAB HEAD COACH AUDRA SMITH
“I just want to commend Florida on having a great game plan. They have some great shooters in Susan Yenser and Steffi Sorensen. They were ready, coming right out of the gate spotting them at the 3-point arc. This is what we talked about during warm-ups and scouting reports - that is what they do well. They are a solid team, and execute well. They were patient beyond the arc, and played great as a team.”
-UF-
