Sophomore Bernice Mosby scored a career-high of 31 points with 11 rebounds, leading the University of Florida women's basketball team to an impressive 80-63 victory over George Washington Monday afternoon in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The win was the fourth consecutive for the Gators, who recorded their ninth victory this season matching their entire win total from last year.
Monday's game was the third win in four days for the Gators (9-2), who don't play again until hosting Baylor on December 30. Florida has won its last four games by an average of 28.5 points, which includes a 75-49 victory over then-No. 15 UC Santa Barbara. The win also extended UF's home court winning streak versus non-conference opponents to 15 games.
"To be 9-2 and nine of those games were on the road, it's been a tough stretch," UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. "This team has been playing extremely hard. They've been very focused, and I'm very impressed that they played as a team. We got great contributions from our starters, and it goes right down our bench. I cannot make the point any more clear: it's not who starts, but it's the contribution you give on the floor. Bernice Mosby set a great example today."
Mosby became the second Gator to score at least 30 points this season, as senior All-American Vanessa Hayden most recently scored 31 points Dec. 14, 2003 versus then-No. 15 UCSB.
Florida (9-2) dominated the boards, outrebounding the Colonials 51-39. Mosby grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to record her third double-double this season and her ninth of her career. Tashia Morehead recorded 15 points and five rebounds, while Hayden tallied 14 points with eight boards in 20 minutes of action. Danielle Santos continued her impressive play, contributing 12 opitns with five rebounds and five assists without a turnover in the win.
Cathy Joens scored 22 points, while Ugo Oha tallied 18 for the Colonials (5-3), who saw their five-game win streak snapped.
George Washington head coach Joe McKeown said he thought his team did a good job on guarding Hayden, but had trouble with Mosby.
"Hayden got in a little foul trouble and they sat her," McKeown said. "That was our Achilles. We couldn't stop Mosby then. I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job on Hayden."
The Gators perimeter game was sizzling, hitting 50 percent (8-of-16) from downtown, including a perfect 4-of-4 from Mosby. UF held GWU to just 16.7 percent (2-of-12) from beyond the arc.
George Washington scored the first four points of the second half to close the gap 35-33 before UF went on a mini 4-2 run to maintain and quell the Colonials early momentum. Mosby, Hayden and junior Tashia Morehead teamed up to put Florida on a 15-4 run, putting the Gators up by 12 (56-44) with less than 11 minutes remaining in the game. UF went on a 13-6 run to up the score 71-56 with under six minutes remaining. The Gators held the Colonials without a field goal for the final four minutes of the contest.
Florida went on a 7-2 run to take a 9-7 lead in the beginning of the first half. The Gators and the Colonials battled it out in the first half, which had 11 lead changes. Sophomore Bernice Mosby lit up the scoreboard as she scored eight consecutive points to lift Florida over George Washington 35-29 heading into the locker room.
Mosby put up 15 points in the first half to lead all scorers. The Gators canned five three-pointers in the first half, with Mosby leading the way with three treys, while George Washington shot 28.6 percent (2-of-7) from downtown. Florida cleaned the glass in the first half, outrebounding George Washington 29-18.
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