Women's Hoops Travels to Athens to Face No. 8 Georgia on Sunday
Saturday, January 9, 2010 | Women's Basketball
The University of Florida rides a four-game winning streak into Athens, where the Gators will face on Sunday the No. 8-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs, who are off to a program-record 15-0 start to its year.
Tip-off from Stegeman Coliseum is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised live on ESPNU, which airs in Gainesville on Cox Cable channel 251. The radio broadcast of the game can be heard live in Gainesville on WBXY-FM (The Star 99.5) and through the internet at www.GatorZone.com, the official website of the Florid Gators.
The game is also part of the ESPN network's “Seven Games in Three Days” stretch, as ESPNU and ESPN2 air four games on Sunday, two on Monday and one on Tuesday.
Both teams are coming off thrilling overtime victories, with the Gators enduring a roller coaster-type game against Auburn and emerging with a 71-68 double-overtime win, while the Lady Bulldogs got the game-winning three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining from freshman star Jasmine James to defeat Kentucky, 61-60.
Florida has won six of its last seven games, with the lone loss during the stretch a disappointing 75-68 decision at home to High Point (Dec. 21) prior to the Holiday Break. During the seven-game run, the Gators have outscored their opponents, 71.3-57.3 (a scoring margin of +14.0), and held a +2.7 rebounding margin.
The Gators are on a modest season-best four-game win streak, which includes a 2-0 start in the SEC. Individually during the four-game run, sophomore center Azania Stewart has been the team's scorer leader with 14.5 points per game, hitting 60 percent (18-30) from the floor and 91.7 percent (22-24) from the line. Lonnika Thompson also has stepped up her game during the stretch, contributing 9.5 points, 4.3 assists, 3.0 steals and hitting 53.8 percent (7-13) from the three-point arc.
Georgia holds a commanding 43-11 lead in the 54-game series against Florida, including a 22-4 record in games played in Athens. Sunday is the first of two meetings this season between the teams, with the Gators playing host to the Lady Bulldogs on Feb. 21 in Gainesville.
Florida has not defeated Georgia in Athens since an 83-73 victory on Jan. 18, 2004. Since that Gator win, the Lady Dawgs have won five consecutive in Stegeman Coliseum.
Last year, Florida snapped an eight-game losing skid to Georgia wtih a 61-45 victory in Gainesville. In the previous eight games prior to UF's victory, Georgia captured those outings by an average of 25.8 points per game. In the second meeting last year, the Gators came within nine points of the Lady Bulldogs in Athens, the closest outcome in Stegeman since that Jan. 2004 victory.
Four current Gators are natives of the Peach State. Jordan Jones, who was a two-year member of the Collins Hill HS team that compiled a 62-1 overall record and won a pair of Georgia Class 5A state championships, is a native of Suwanee, a mere 39 minutes from Athens. Fayette County freshman Tessah Holt will be playing 71 miles from where she played high school hoops, leading Fayette County to the Class AAAA state title game her senior year. Holt's team dropped that last game to Southwest DeKalb (Ga.) High School that stared Kayla Lewis, one of UF's signees for the 2010-11 class. Junior Ebonie Crawford hails from Decatur, Ga., located approximately 54 miles from Athens, while senior Susan Yenser is from Marietta, 66 miles from the UG campus.
Jones leads the Gators in scoring (10.9 ppg), assists (3.3), steals (1.9) and three-pointers (32), while senior Sharielle Smith averages 9.3 points along with a team-leading 7.5 rebounds per game. Stewart is coming off Thursday's career game, when she led the Gators to a double-overtime win against Auburn with 21 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots and four assists, while hitting 9-of-9 from the free throw line in 40 minutes of action - all of those stats being career-highs.
Game Day Information
What: Florida (9-6, 2-0 SEC) at #8 Georgia (15-0, 2-0 SEC)
When: Sunday, January 10, 2010 * 6 p.m. ET
Where: Athens, Ga. * Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Radio: LIVE on WBXY-FM (The Star 99.5) in Gainesville with Adam Schick & Steve Russell
Internet Audio: LIVE thru GatorZone.com (FREE of charge)
Internet Video: none
Television: LIVE on ESPNU (airing in Gainesville on Cox Cable channel 251) with Sam Gore & Stephanie Ready
Post-Game Satellite Feed: none
-UF-
