Sophomore center Azania Stewart (Wood Green, England.) scored a career-high 17 points Tuesday, but a late-game comeback wasn't enough for the Gators to overcome a poor shooting night in a 72-71 loss to Florida A&M in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The Gators (3-4), who used their fourth different starting lineup in seven games this season, shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the floor in the game, including an 11-of-33 (.333) mark in the second half.
Florida, which trailed by 12 points, 72-60, with 48.2 seconds remaining in the game, scored the last 11 points in the contest, including a 3-pointer by Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) with 1.5 ticks left on the clock. On the ensuing possession, Florida A&M threw a baseball pass the length of the court that was corralled by Tameka McKelton at the other end of the court as time expired.
“It was a great win by FAMU,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler said. “They gave great effort and showed a lot of intensity. I was really impressed with how ready Coach [LeDawn] Gibson had her team to play us. They played a fantastic ballgame.”
Stewart's 17 points came on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and a 3-of-4 clip from the free-throw line. That offensive output bested her previous career high of 16 points scored against Vanderbilt on Feb. 12, 2009.
Stewart was one of three Florida players to record double-figure points, as Jones finished with 13, including three 3-pointers and senior forward Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) added 10 points.
Senior guard Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) played a career-high 40 minutes, bringing down a season-high 12 rebounds – one shy of her career high – and knocking down two 3-pointers, while dishing out a career-high seven assists in the game.
The Gators committed just 11 turnovers in the game, but were out-rebounded 38-35 and allowed the Rattlers to shoot 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the 3-point arc.
Florida took a 37-34 advantage into intermission, shooting just 40.6 percent (13-of-32) from the floor in the opening period.
The Gators scored the first 12 points over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the game, holding the Rattlers to 0-of-7 shooting to begin the game. Florida A&M began capitalizing on its long-range shooting to cut within six, 17-11, at the 14:12 mark after consecutive 3-pointers in a less than 30-second span. The Rattlers then held the Gators without a field-goal for a duration of 5:10 and whittled their deficit down to two, 19-17, with 10:59 remaining in the half.
After a Smith hoop ended Florida's scoring drought, a 3-pointer by Deidra Jones cut FAMU's deficit to just one, 21-20, and forced Butler to call a timeout at the 10:17 mark. The Rattlers went ahead 25-23 on a trey by Antonia Bennett with 8:55 left in the period. With the Gators down by four, 30-26, back-to-back baskets by Stewart and Smith knotted the score at 30-all with 4:52 remaining in the half. Following another tie at 32-32, a 3-pointer by Sorensen and a basket by Stewart put UF ahead 37-32.
Florida A&M opened the second half on a 15-2 run to take a 48-39 advantage with 14:50 remaining in the game. A 3-pointer by Susan Yenser (Marietta, Ga.) at the 14:32 mark ended the Gators' scoring drought that plagued them early in the final period. The Rattlers kept adding to their advantage to take a 10-point, 52-42, lead after a 3-pointer by Christian Rateree with 13:14 remaining.
A pair of free-throws by Stewart and a Jones 3-pointer from the top of the key brought Florida back into the game down 52-47 at the 12:10 mark. With the Gators trailing 54-47, back-to-back baskets by Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) and Jones brought UF to within three, 54-51, with 9:48 left. The Rattlers pushed their lead out to nine points, 64-55, with 4:12 remaining following three consecutive baskets to set up Florida's late-game rally.
“I'm very excited,” Florida A&M head coach LeDawn Gibson said. “This was a big win for our program and I just love how hard our young ladies played tonight. I feel like our guards are some of the top guards in the country. I think we can run with anybody when they're playing at the top of their games.”
Florida A&M (4-2) was led by Tameka McKelton's 27 points, as she hit 12-of-16 from the floor. Antonia Bennett also added 21 points, while Qiana Donald collected 10 rebounds.
Florida returns to action on Monday when it travels to Piscataway, N.J., to face Rutgers in the Jimmy V Classic. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be carried live on ESPN2 and on WBXY-FM (The Star 99.5 FM in Gainesville).
POST-GAME NOTES
· Florida leads the all-time series with Florida A&M, 7-5.
· The Gators are 15-5 all-time vs. members in the current alignment of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
· Tuesday's game marked the fourth for the Gators in an eight-day stretch.
· Florida used its fourth different starting lineup in seven games this season, as the Gators started Jennifer George, Jordan Jones, Steffi Sorensen, Azania Stewart and Lonnika Thompson.
· Senior Sharielle Smith appeared in her 100th career game on Tuesday. She eclipsed the 700-point plateau for her career and now has 706 career points.
· Senior Steffi Sorensen played a career-high 40 minutes and dished out a career-high seven assists.
POST-GAME QUOTES
FLORIDA HEAD COACH AMANDA BUTLER
“It was a great win by FAMU. They gave great effort and showed a lot of intensity. I was really impressed with how ready Coach [LeDawn] Gibson had her team to play us. They played a fantastic ballgame.”
On the team's individual standout efforts …
“When you talk about individual efforts, I thought Steffi was fantastic with 12 rebounds and Azania's offensive effort was tremendous. But when you talk about effort, you have to talk about Florida A&M. They played with effort and a sense of urgency. Effort was very important to them.”
On the team's defensive effort …
“When the shots aren't falling, you have to pick up the effort on the defensive end. FAMU shot the ball very well tonight, but I thought they also had a lot of open looks tonight.”
On Florida's 12-0 start to the game …
“We came out of the gates with a lot of intensity and then we relaxed. Their intensity exceeded ours for most of the game. We will go back to practice and make sure we are getting the most out of our 20 hours a week.”
Florida's #10 Steffi Sorensen, Sr., G
On her game-high 12 rebounds …
“Obviously, this season, I've been struggling with my shooting, but I'm always going to go out there and help the team. Rebounding is an effort thing. I can always rely on that if my shot is not falling. If my shot falls, it falls, but if it doesn't, I'm not going to let that dictate other phases of my game.”
FLORIDA A&M HEAD COACH LEDAWN GIBSON
“I'm very excited. This is a big win for our program. I just love how hard our young ladies played tonight. It means a lot as a mid-major to step up and beat a big-time Division I school. It was just our goal coming into Gainesville last night. We talked about it – we wanted to be able to get a few upsets before our [Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference] season started.”
On the play of her guards …
“I feel like our guards are some of the top guards in the country. I feel like we can run with anybody when they're playing at the top of their games.”
On Florida A&M's defense …
“Coach Butler has a team full of shooters. They're a great team and they're young like us. We felt like if we could corral the ball and do what we need to do, we'd be okay.”
On her thoughts after her team got down 12-0 to begin the game …
“I told them just to relax and play their game. We needed to run our offense, play our game and we knew eventually our shots would start falling. I think we started the game a little nervous, coming out on a big stage, but once we hit that first shot, we settled down and played our game.”
-UF-
