OCALA, Fla. – Florida opened Wednesday's game against Wofford with a 21-5 run and never looked back as the Gators posted a convincing 74-51 win against the Terriers at the College of Central Florida's Patriot Gym.
 
Senior Ronni Williams, who finished with a career-high 26 points along with 11 rebounds, scored UF's first six points and assisted on its next bucket that fueled the game-opening 10-2 run.
 
Wofford connected on a three, before the Gators came right back with 11 straight points – the first five from Brooke Copeland and the rest from Williams, as Florida's lead continued to grow.
 
The Terriers scored the final five points of the first quarter and closed the gap to 11 points, but Eleanna Christinaki, who netted 20 points her fourth 20-point game this season, waited for the second quarter to get on the board and boy did she – netting 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting that included a pair of threes – and Florida opened the frame on an 18-2 run for a 39-12 lead and was never really threatened again.
 
Wofford did whittle a 28-point deficit down to 14 points, 57-43, early in the fourth quarter, but Christinaki and Tyshara Fleming both hit jumpers and the Gator lead was back to 18 points, 61-43, and was the start of a 15-3 run and quelled any chance of a Terrier upset.
 
Double-Digit Gators

• Ronni Williams finished with a career-high 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting; second 20-point scoring game of her career (career-high 21 points vs. Florida State, Nov. 16, 2015); 56^th double-figure scoring game of her career
• Williams also collected a game-high 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season; 16^th of career
• Eleanna Christinaki: 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting (2-4 three-pointers); 23^rd double-figure scoring game of her career and sixth this year
• Haley Lorenzen: 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting; 24th double-figure scoring game of her career and sixth this year

 
Stat Performances Worth Noting

• Dyandria Anderson dished a game-high six assists in 16 minutes
• Tyshara Fleming blocked five shots, tying her career-high, while grabbing eight rebounds – one shy of her career best
• Eleanna Christinaki hit both free throw attempts and extended her consecutive make streak to 10

 
Numbers of Note

• Florida tied a season-high of 23 assists
• Florida shot a season-best 53.3 percent (32-60) from the floor for the second game this year
• All 10 Gators played at least 10 minutes

 
 
Half Way Home

• Wednesday's game was Florida's sixth of a season-opening 12-game road trip due to the $64.5 million renovations being done to Exactech Arena at the O'Connell Center.
• The Gator's first home game of the season will be on Dec. 28 against Southeastern Louisiana.

 
Three Games in Five Days

• Wednesday's game marked the first of a three-game run for Florida over a five-day span that includes a trip to Tempe, Arizona.
• The Gators will depart Gainesville on Friday morning, play Long Beach State on Saturday and then either Arizona State or Boston U. on Sunday, before flying home on Monday.
• This five-day run will encompass approximately 4,136 miles.

 
First-Time Florida Foes

• Wofford is one of five teams on UF's schedule that the Gators will play for the first time.
• The other first-time foes: Chattanooga, Northwestern, North Carolina A&M and Southeastern Louisiana.

 
Updated Team Records:

• Florida: 5-1
• Wofford: 3-3

 
National Rankings:

• Florida: No. 19 Associated Press; No. 23 USA Today/WBCA
• Wofford: not ranked

 
 
Quoting UF Head Coach Amanda Butler
"I thought we gave a good, all-around effort. When we were really looking for our paint touches, that's when we were dominating the game on the offensive end. Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. Whenever you can get steals, that's pretty solid. We had way too many turnovers. We didn't play with as much discipline as we needed to tonight."
 
"Ronni (Williams) had a fantastic night, 26 points and 11 rebounds is good against anybody, any day of the week. Eleanna (Christinaki) with another 20-point performance, which is fantastic. The goal for us is to be interchangeable. We believe in our depth and we believe in whomever the sixth person and seventh person is coming into the game – we want everything that they have. I think our upperclassmen did a great job of establishing ourselves. There's going to be a lot to learn from this game. It sounds a little ridiculous, but we should have won by a little bit more. We have to take some pride in things that make us really good."
 
"One of the things our freshmen are learning is not just the speed of the game, but thinking the speed of the game. We ask a lot of our guards and I think there were times when they were relying more on their physical selves instead of their mental selves and that's just something you have to learn. I think there are going to be great lessons for them to see on film. The thing I love about this group, regardless of the lineup that's on the court, is that they play with tremendous effort. They play with tremendous heart. I thought we had some fantastic hustle plays. I also thought we had some really big minute from Elif (Portakal) tonight, which was really important."
 
"Our goal today, aside from winning the game, was to be our best. In some moments we were, and in some moments we weren't. Those are the ones we'll look at on film."
 
 
Gator Pronunciations for this release:

• DYANDRIA Anderson: dee-ANN-dree-uh
• ELEANNA CHRISTINAKI: L-ee-on-uh chris-tin-OCK-ee
• TYSHARA Fleming: tie-SHEER-uh

 
 
What's Next for the Gators

• What: Arizona State Classic, Dec. 3-4
• Who: Florida (5-1) vs. Long Beach State (3-3)
• When: Sat., December 3 - ~4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT (30 minutes after game 1)
• Where: Wells Fargo Arena (14,198) * Tempe, Arizona
• Game 1: No. 24 Arizona State (3-2) vs. Boston U. (1-5) at 2 p.m. ET/12 p.m. MT
• Sun., Dec. 4: game times at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET (ASU will play the late game)

 
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