Sophomore guard Brittaney Thomas (Montgomery, Ala.) netted a career-high 18 points on Thursday night, but the University of Florida women's basketball team dropped an 82-55 decision to No. 17/14 Georgia at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Thomas' career-best output came on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor, eclipsing the 17-point effort during the season-opening win over Xavier. Her 18 points sparked the Gators to a 34-15 advantage in points off of the bench, but that was one of the few areas Florida (13-6, 2-2 SEC) carried an edge.
With Florida trailing just 8-6 after a Thomas lay-up at the 14:29 mark of the opening half, Georgia's Megan Darrah answered quickly with a three-pointer and ignited a 20-2 run over the ensuing nine-plus minutes that pushed the lead to 28-8 and the Gators never recovered.
“In the SEC, you're playing against the some of the best teams and players in the nation,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler said. “If you don't come out and throw the first punch, you'll find yourself laying flat on your back. That's what happened to us tonight. You can't dig a hole for yourself against a team that talented and expect to come back from that deficit.”
Junior forward Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and added seven points, while junior center Aneika Henry (Coconut Grove, Fla.) recorded seven boards in the contest, as Florida lost the rebounding battle, 47-32, in its largest deficit of the season.
Junior guard Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) connected from beyond the arc with just over 13 minutes left in the second half to bring her total of three-point field goals to 142 as a Gator, tying Dana Smith (1994-98) for third on the Florida career list.
UF was carried by its bench in the opening frame, as the Gators' reserves outscored Georgia's bench by a 15-7 margin. Thomas led the way with 11 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Florida also forced 10 UGA turnovers in the first half, converting them into eight points, but the Bulldogs rode a 50 percent shooting performance to a 43-21 halftime lead.
Sophomore guard Ashley Houts scored a career-high 25 points to pace Georgia (16-3, 3-2 SEC), while senior forward Tasha Humphrey chipped in with 23 points and a team-high eight boards. Houts also dished out a game-high six assists for the Bulldogs, who presented their Andy Landers with his 700th win as Georgia's head coach.
The Gators will wrap up the week on Sunday afternoon with a 3 p.m. contest at South Carolina. WRUF-AM 850 will broadcast the action live for listeners in Gainesville and though www.GatorZone.com, the official website of the Florida Gators.
Post-Game Quotes
Florida head coach Amanda Butler
Opening Statement:
“In the SEC, you're playing against the some of the best teams and players in the nation. If you don't come out and throw the first punch, you'll find yourself laying flat on your back. That's what happened to us tonight. You can't dig a hole for yourself against a team that talented and expect to come back from that deficit. We started the game way too timidly, and I have to take the blame for that. As much as it appeared that we weren't ready to play, there must have been something wrong with our preparation.”
On Georgia's defense:
“They're very aggressive. At Georgia, defense is what they're known for. Defensive pressure is one of Coach Landers' trademarks. In some of the games in which they've faltered this season, they didn't seem to have that same sort of edge, but now it seems like they've got it together. They're aggressive and confident on the defensive end. Those are things that, to this point, I thought that we had displayed. We were back on our heels tonight, not up on our toes. They expected to make plays, and they expected to take the ball out of our hands. They were physical tonight, and usually that's a positive for us, but we didn't rise to the challenge.”
On Georgia's size:
“I think it was a factor in certain instances. They have great size in the post. We've played big post tandems all year long, starting off with Xavier, who has two of the biggest post players in the country. We took it in strong a few times and couldn't get it up to the rim, but in those cases, you have to step out and hit a few jump shots and execute your ball rotation.”
Florida senior guard Depree Bowden
On the loss to Georgia:
“It's very disappointing but we just have to stay positive in practice and bounce back. We just couldn't get an offensive flow early. We just have to bounce back for South Carolina. We have to have two good days of practice for South Carolina. Like Coach said, we still have a lot of games left. But don't get me wrong, this game is very disappointing, but we just have to bounce back.”
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers
Opening Statement:
“I thought we were really spectacular. I don't think I could ask for more. I mean, we had some breakdowns but you're not going to play perfect. That's about as well as I think we could've asked for from these kids tonight. We did a nice job for the most part with draw screens, their inside people and getting back in transition. Early in the game, we didn't get them boxed out and they got to the offensive boards the first six to eight minutes of the game. Most impressive thing about our defense is that it's impressive to come out and play hard and play well, but it's another thing to come out play hard and play well for 40 minutes. That was the impressive thing. We never let up. We stayed the course and that impressed me.”
On the play of Sophomore Guard Ashley Houts:
“Incredible. Basketball is a game of opportunity. I have a son that's a senior in high school and about every other game we have a discussion after he plays because he doesn't understand why he didn't get touches or shots. He's like everybody else. It's about opportunity. You get shots when you can get shots and there's nights when people guard you and maybe coaches don't run something that prevents shots for you. What Ashley did tonight was take advantage of the opportunities. She found the gaps and found the seam. She got the ball deep and laid it up and when she was left open on the perimeter she spotted up and shot it very, very well. Again she handled the pressure because they came after her when she had the ball and tried to keep her from getting the ball. It was just a great performance.”
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