Jaterra Bonds Named SEC Women's Basketball Freshman of the Week
Monday, February 28, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Florida's Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, Fla.) was honored for the second time this season as the Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Monday.
Bonds scored a career-high 22 points in upset against SEC rival Georgia in Sunday's regular-season finale, a win that marked the first time in program history Florida has defeated the Bulldogs three consecutive times in Gainesville.
Bonds' five three-pointers in the win against Georgia tied Florida's single game record for most treys by a freshman, as she hit 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. She converted 7-of-12 overall from the floor in the victory.
In the win against 22nd-ranked Georgia, Bonds scored five consecutive points in the final three minutes of the game, as she knocked down a three-pointer with 2:56 remaining that gave UF a 68-66 lead and followed with a driving layup that extended the lead to four with 2:32 to play. After Georgia cut the lead to one point, stepped up and nailed one free throw with 22 seconds remaining that grew the lead to two, 73-71.
In the upset win at Vanderbilt, which cut UF's lead to two points, sank a gutsy and driving layup with 4:47 remaining. Then collected the defensive rebound on VU's next possession and hit a jumper in the paint on the other end with 4:26 on the clock that gave UF a 66-60 lead en route to Florida's first win in Nashville since Feb. 1, 2004.
The Gators ended the regular season on a three-game win streak that they take to the 2011 SEC Tournament that gets underway on Thu., March 2 in Nashville, Tenn.
Florida (17-13, 7-9 SEC) earned the No. 8 seed in the 12-team event and will play ninth-seeded Arkansas (18-10, 6-10 SEC) on Thursday beginning at 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT).
