The University of Florida women's basketball team proved its was more than simply a one-player team during its stunning 83-73 victory over No. 11/9 (AP/ESPN) Georgia Sunday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum in front of a crowd of 6,474.
UF senior All-American Vanessa Hayden played just 19 minutes - three in the first half - because of foul trouble, but that didn't stop the Gators (12-5, 2-2 SEC) from posting their first win over a nationally ranked opponent on the road when the Gators were unranked themselves since stunning No. 10 Alabama back on Jan. 16, 1994.
Junior Tashia Morehead stepped up with a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore Bernice Mosby recorded 18 points and six boards. Danielle Santos tallied 16 points with four rebounds, four assists and three steals in 40 minutes of action. Sarah Lowe scored all of her 11 points in the second half, when the Gators shot 59.3 percent (16-27) from the field. Hayden finished with six points, nine rebounds and two blocks, almost all of which came in the second half.
UF shot 49.1 percent (28-57) from the floor during the game, out-rebounding the taller Lady Bulldogs 43-34. The Gators hit 9-of-15 three-pointers and 18-of-23 free throws in the victory, while Georgia canned 12-of-32 three-pointers and 13-of-19 from the charity stripe.
"Our team did a tremendous job. We showed a lot of character, especially coming back from a tough loss at LSU Thursday night," UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. "We talk about what Georgia was ranked, we just talked about what we needed to cover. We really wanted to limit their second chance points."
The Gator victory snapped multiple streaks, including Georgia's 23-game home winning streak which was the second longest active streak in the country. The win ended UF's SEC road losing streak at 11 games, a run that dated back to the 2001-02 season. Finally, the victory marked UF's first over Georgia in Athens since February 8, 1995.
Cori Chambers and Alexis Kendrick each scored 15 points for Georgia (13-4, 2-2 SEC), while Jessica Pierce added 13 points in the loss.
The Gators ended the first half on a 17-6 run to take a 36-34 halftime leading after trailing by nine points with nine minutes remaining in the period.
Georgia began the second half with a three-pointer, but Tishona Gregory answered right back with one from the right corner. Tashia Morehead then hit a layup off an in-bounds play, but Cori Chambers nailed another trey for the Bulldogs to give the lead back to Georgia with 17:26. Morehead continued her offensive stroke and went on a 7-0 run by herself. Danielle Santos then canned a 10-footer that extended UF's lead to eight points, 50-42. Jessica Pierce answered for UG with a 3-pointer, but Vanessa Hayden came right back with a tough shot in the paint over 6-foot-6 Kara Braxton to give the Gators a 52-45 lead with 13:53 left in the game.
Alexis Kendrick hit a short jumper for UG and forced a Gator turnover that resulted in two more points, as the Bulldogs began a 8-2 run that cut UF's lead to one point, 54-53, with 12:01 remaining. But the Gators refused to relinquish their lead, as Morehead hit a 7-footer and Santos came up with a steal and dribbled the length of the court and converted the layup to bring UF's lead back to five, 58-53. Hayden then hit another tough jumper in the paint, before Kendrick hit a 15-footer to stop UF's run at 6-0.
However, the Gators continued their aggressiveness on the offensive end, when Santos canned a three-pointer and Sarah Lowe was the wide-open recipient of a pass underneath the basket to hit a short jumper that gave UF a 65-55 lead with 8:12 remaining in the game. Georgia was forced to call a timeout and Janese Hardrick nailed a 3-pointer.
The teams then traded baskets before Bernice Mosby nailed a three-pointer from the corner in front of the Gator bench and followed that with another field goal from just inside the arc to give UF a 72-60 lead with 5:30 on the clock. However, Georgia now refused to fold and Cori Chambers answered with a three-pointer and Christi Thomas followed with a pair of free thrown, to bring UF's lead back to seven, 72-65. Sarah Lowe responded for UF with a three-pointer from the left corner with 3:46 left in the game, but Kendrick again hit a trey. Hayden missed a pair of free throws on UF's next possession while Kara Braxton followed with two made charity tosses with 3:07 on the clock to cut the Gator lead to 75-70.
On UF's next possession, Brittany Davis got caught up with Christi Thomas in a jump ball and the possession turned to Georgia, which missed its next shot and UF collected the rebound. Lowe was whistled for an offensive foul next, turning the ball back over to Georgia. The Lady Bulldogs again missed on their next possession and UF grabbed the miss. Danielle Santos' short jumper rolled around the rim and just fell out, as neither team could find the bottom of the net until Georgia began to foul to stop the clock with just over one minute remaining. The Gators went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line in the final 1:05 as Sarah Lowe, Tishona Gregory and Danielle Santos all hit from the stripe to preserve the victory.
"We showed great composure and we knew we that was going to be important because of their full court press and the half court press," Peck said. "This was a great team effort by every player on this team. We were all focused in practice and got ourselves ready to play."
The pre-game attention focused on the team's post players, specifically Gator All-American Vanessa Hayden facing the Lady Bulldog's Kara Braxton and Christi Thomas. However, Hayden collected her second foul with 17:18 remaining in the first half and was forced to the bench for the remaining of the period. Hayden's absence may have changed UF's attack, but Georgia came out firing from the perimeter, hitting their first three 3-point attempts during a game-opening 11-4 run.
The Gators chipped away at the lead thanks to three-pointers from Danielle Santos and Bernice Mosby that cut the deficit to three points, 17-14, with 13:22 remaining in the half. But Georgia came right back and scored off an offensive rebound and then forced Sarah Lowe into a turnover under the Gator basket off the inbound and Thomas converted the layup to extend UG's lead back to seven, 21-14. After two free throws from Tashia Morehead, Georgia scored the next four points to complete a 8-2 spree that gave the Lady Bulldogs a 25-16 lead with nine minutes left.
But the pesky Gators kept their composure and after each team traded three points, UF ripped off a 9-0 run with scoring from Mosby, Morehead and Santos to tie the game at 28-all with 5:13 remaining in the half. UF turned up its defensive intensity and finally limited UG's offensive rebounds during the stretch. Once the Gators tied the score on a deep three-pointer from Morehead, UF had trouble finishing its offensive opportunities as several attempts rolled around the rim and fell out preventing the Gators from taking the lead. Braxton finally halted UF's scoring run with a pair of free throws, but Mosby came right down the floor and nailed a long three-pointer from the top of the key with 2:42 on the clock to give the Gators a 31-30 lead, their first of the game.
Braxton then hit a fall-down two-footer, before Mosby answered on UF's third offensive rebound during its ensuing possession. After a Georgia turnover, Morehead drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws that gave the Gators a 35-32 lead. Jessica Pierce connected on a Georgia field goal with 18 seconds remaining, but Mosby was sent to the free throw line with .04 seconds on the clock and hit one to end the first half scoring with UF holding a 36-34 lead.
Statistically, the teams were virtually even. Both teams went 12-of-30 from the field, with each hitting four 3-pointers and committing seven turnovers. UF held a slight 22-19 rebounding edge. The lone different was at the free throw line, where the Gators hit 8-of-11 and the Lady Bulldogs converted 6-of-11.
The Gators next return to action on Thursday, January 22, when the team plays host to South Carolina at 7 p.m. in the O'Connell Center.
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