Senior Sarah Lowe (Wynnewood, Pa.) hit two free throws with three seconds remaining in overtime to lift the University of Florida women's basketball team to a stunning 79-78 victory over No. 2/3 LSU Thursday evening at the O'Connell Center in front of 2,603 celebrating the team's final home game of the season.
The win was the Gators' first ever over a top-4 ranked team, having defeated three No. 5-ranked teams prior to Thursday's victory. Florida's win also halted a six-game losing streak to LSU and snapped the Lady Tiger's 24-game Southeastern Conference win streak.
Also having a senior game to remember was forward Dalila Eshe (Tallahassee), who scored eight of her 22 points in the overtime period, including a three-pointer over LSU's 6-foot-6 center Sylvia Fowles with 1:56 remaining that gave the Gators (19-6, 7-5 SEC) a 73-72 lead.
Fowles hit two free throws 12 seconds later and Florence Williams followed with a jumper that gave LSU (22-2, 10-1 SEC) a 76-73 lead with 29 seconds remaining. But Lowe countered and coolly nailed two free throws with 20 seconds on the clock to bring the Gators within one, 76-75. LSU's Erica White, a 91.7 percent free throw shooter, missed two straight from the charity stripe, but Fowles collected the second miss and put back an offensive board to extend the Tiger's lead to 78-75 with 14 seconds remaining.
But Lowe drove hard through up the middle of the lane and dropped in a layup and the Gators immediately fouled RaShonta LeBlanc, who missed both free throws. Gator freshman Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) collected the miss and Lowe drove again to the basket and was fouled by Seimone Augustus with three seconds left, setting up her heroics from the charity stripe.
"I knew I was going to make those free throws," Lowe said. "I never had a doubt in my mind. We shoot free throws every day and I felt relaxed and took myself back to the practice court. This was an amazing win and I couldn't have scripted a better way to have my final home game end in the O'Connell Center."
Freshman Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) led the Gators with a career-high 25 points hitting 4-of-7 from the three-point arc and set a freshman record for treys in a season, passing the previous mark of 49 set by Talatha Bingham in 1996. She also collected five steals and five rebounds in 41 minutes of action.
"I really wanted to win this for the seniors," Brooks said. "It's an honor to be starting alongside the four of them. They've been so great to all of us all season and we wanted to do everything we could to send them out with a win in their final home game."
“It was a tremendous game,” head coach Carolyn Peck said. “Our whole team wanted it, and our underclassmen especially wanted it for our seniors. I asked them to use the emotion in a positive way and it was just an amazing win for us.”
Two seniors posted double figures, including Eshe who scored 22 points and grabbed five rebounds. Lowe tallied 17 and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Senior Danielle Santos (Marietta, Ga.) and Brittany Davis (Gainesville) were plagued with foul trouble throughout the game, but managed to combined for six points and 10 rebounds. Santos was responsible for guarding LSU star Augustus in the later stages of the game and came through, as Augustus managed just two points in overtime.
Brooks had a strong night all around, scoring a career-high 25 points and exceeded the Florida record of 49 three-pointers hit by a freshman. She made four on Thursday night, including one from near half court with 4:48 left in the second half to narrow the margin to 65-59 and start a 9-0 run.
The seniors added the run with a 6-0 effort as Eshe scored back-to-back buckets to pull the Gators within two points (9-0 run), and Lowe sank a jumper to tie the game 65-65 and force the game into overtime.
LSU's Seimone Augustus scored a career-high 35 points, and Sylvia Fowles added 23 points and 16 rebounds, but the Tigers committed 22 turnovers.
Florida hits the road for its final two regular season games, beginning Sunday Feb. 19 at Auburn. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
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