In what was a quintessential game of two halves, Florida dug itself a 17-point hole and nearly overcame it, but when the final horn sounded, the Gators found themselves on the short end of a 71-67 decision to Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Friday evening at Alltel Arena.
Fourth-seeded Florida (23-7) outscored the Lady Vols, 46-33, in the second half, when the Gators shot 51.5 percent from the floor and forced 14 of UT's 23 turnovers. For as tough as the Gator defense played and as well as they shot during those final 20 minutes, the opposite held true for the first half, when fifth-seeded Tennessee (22-9) built a 38-21 halftime lead.
“You just can't let a good team like Tennessee take such a commanding lead,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “The second half was a fantastic fight and I was very, very proud of our effort, emotion and energy. It would have been very easy just to throw in the towel, with such a large portion of the crowd routing against you. Things didn't go our way the first half, but I was just really proud of our fight the second half.”
Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.), UF's leading scorer, contributed a team-high 22 points, before fouling out with 2:30 remaining. Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) was reflective of the way the Gators played, as she scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half on 8-of-11 shooting, while tying her career-high of five steals, all of which came in the final frame. Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 10 points with four steals in 38 minutes of action.
UT's Angie Bjorklund tallied a game-high 25 points, connecting on 6-of-10 from the three-point arc and 9-of-15 overall after being held scoreless in Thursday's opening-round tournament game.
“We knew that Angie Bjorklund was going to come out and prove herself tonight after the game she had last night,” Butler said. “She played a fantastic game. It seemed like every time she took a shot it went in. We gave her too many open looks, but sometimes when you're playing from behind you have to take a few more chances. You have to give her credit for knocking them down. She helped them set the tone, and ultimately, that's the story of the game. They set the tone in the first half and we had a very valiant effort in the second half, but we didn't set the tone.”
The teams traded scores to begin the second half, before the Gators began to chip away at the 17-point deficit, as Trumae Lucas (Greensboro, N.C.) and Sorensen connected on back-to-back buckets and dropped the lead to 13 points. The clubs again exchanged free throws and Bjorklund nailed a three-pointer to give the Vols a 16-point edge with 14:10 remaining.
That's when the Gators mounted a furious 10-run and got within six points with 11:47 to go. Brooks opened the march with a 10-foot jumper. Dotson used her quickness and found an opening inside for a bucket. Lonnika Thompson (New Orleans, La.) then came up with a defensive rebound, squirted through the smallest of opening to find a streaking Brooks open for a layup. Thompson added a layup of her own 20 seconds later, before Dotson ripped the ball out of the hands of Alyssia Brewer on UT's end of the floor and powered up a tough four-footer in the paint to cap the march.
Both teams traded scores until Bjorklund helped UT hit consecutively, as she added another 3-pointer to build UF's deficit to 11 points, 54-43, with 9:29 to go.
Dotson responded with a power move inside and Brooks added a 3-pointer to get the Gators within six shortly afterwards. But Bjorklund again answered with five straight points and extended UT's lead back to 11, 59-48, and 8:19 on the clock.
Florida refused to fold and came right back with a 9-1 run, with Brooks scoring on a driving layup, Sorensen nailing a 3-pointer in front of the Gator bench and Dotson netting a pair of tough jumpers, all of which brought Florida within three points, 60-57, with 3:48 remaining.
That's when UT ripped off a tough 7-0 spurt over the next two minutes and seemed to pull away, taking a 10-point advantage, 67-57, with 1:52 left. What made a possible comeback even more daunting was that Brooks picked up her fifth personal foul with 2:30 left to play.
The Gators tried to stage one final push, but the horn sounded with Florida down four, 71-67.
“No question we exerted a lot of energy fighting our way back into the game,” Butler said. “It was a great team effort in the second half and if we had that kind of energy, determination and toughness, than we would be having different plans for tomorrow.”
After Brooks hit a three-pointer to begin the game's scoring, Tennessee ripped off a 9-0 run. Florida came right back with another trey from Brooks, a layup from Thompson and a free throw from Azania Stewart (Wood Green, England) to tie the game at 9-all with 13:48 remaining in the first half.
Bjorklund then nailed her first of three 3-pointers in the opening half to spark a 9-1 spurt and give the Vols an eight-point cushion with 11:18 on the clock. Florida cut the deficit to six points shortly afterwards on two different occasions, but UT answered both times.
Brooks hit a pair of free throws with 2:45 left in the half and got the Gators within nine points, 30-21, but Bjorklund scored the final eight points of the period to send Florida into the halftime lockerroom trailing, 38-17.
The Gators had a tough time finding their shot to fall, hitting just 29.2 percent (7-24) in the opening 20 minutes, while the taller Vols hit at a 55.6 percent clip (15-27) and held a commanding 20-11 rebounding advantage.
The Gators now await word of their postseason fate. The NCAA Tournament field will be revealed on Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. ET, when ESPN will present the exclusive live announcement of the 64-team field.
Florida has made 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament, with its most recent berth coming in 2006, when the Gators received the No. 6 seed.
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