GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Backed by an all-around performance from sophomore Ronni Williams, who recorded 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks, the Gators rallied from a 12-point, second half deficit and forced overtime against Vanderbilt, only to fall short of a comeback victory in a 76-75 decision to the Commodores Thursday night in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Vanderbilt led by as many as 12 points as late as with 17:40 remaining in regulation before Florida staged a gritty rally and tied the game at 55 with 10:14 to go. The Gators had four possessions to take their first lead of the game, but couldn't connect on any of them, and the Commodores eventually got their shot to fall and forced Florida into catch-up mode again.
Florida rose to the challenge and tied the game again at 60 with 5:52 remaining after Williams completed her eighth three-point-play of the season.
Vanderbilt scored five straight points by taking advantage of two Gator turnovers and held a 65-60 edge with 4:10 to go.
The Gators missed their next two shots but forced a Vandy miscue and Brooke Copeland nailed a three-pointer with 3:05 on the clock and brought UF within two, 65-62. The teams quickly traded buckets and the Commodores were the next to score with just 52 seconds left and took a 69-65 lead.
January Miller, who finished with 15 points and four assists, hit an acrobatic bank shot and had the Gators within two with 30 seconds to go. UF was whistled for a foul and Vanderbilt went to the line, but missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Cassie Peoples, who had seven points, seven assists and four steals in just under 40 minutes of action, made a great shot and tied the game shortly before Williams came up with a steal and the Gators had the ball with 4.9 seconds remaining.
Florida had two great looks at the basket, but neither would fall and the game headed to overtime.
Miler converted two free throws to opening the scoring in the bonus period and gave Florida its first lead of the game with 4:31 remaining in the extra session.
Vanderbilt and Florida traded baskets back and forth through the majority of the overtime period. Neither team led by more than two during the bonus minutes. The Gators called a timeout to regroup with 33.6 seconds to go as Vanderbilt held a 76-75 lead and control of the ball coming out of the break. A Williams foul sent Jasmine Jenkins to the line to attempt the double bonus free throws. Jenkins missed both and the Gators got the ball back with 16 seconds to go, but Miller's final attempt with just seconds on the clock fell short.
The Commodores kicked off the second half on a 6-0 run, but Kayla Lewis halted the Vanderbilt scoring streak with a layup at 17:39, which sparked a 10-2 tear for the home team to bring the Gators within four, 52-48, with 13:31 on the clock.
The Orange and Blue patiently chipped away at the Vanderbilt lead and nailed five of six field goal attempts to knot the game at 55 following a Miller layup. Florida struggled to break the tie, but kept the Commodores in check for nearly five minutes without a score. Vanderbilt finally snapped its scoring drought with a Rebekah Dahlman three, her fifth of the night, as the Commodores went back up, 58-55, with 7:10 to play.
Despite a slow start for Florida from the field, the Gators crept within two points of the Commodores on a jumper from Carla Batchelor with 4:08 remaining to make it a 33-31 game. Vanderbilt responded with a 9-3 run, however, capped by another trey, this time from Dahlman, to jump ahead by 10. Miller sunk the final shot of the half with 19 seconds to play, but Vanderbilt entered the locker room with a 44-36 edge.
Updated Records: Florida: 12-14, 4-9 SEC … Vanderbilt: 14-12, 5-8 SEC
VIDEO: Postgame press conference with Head Coach Amanda Butler, January Miller and Ronni Williams:
· http://www.gatorvision.tv/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3736293&db_oem_id=6500
Turning Point:
· Cassie Peoples converted a layup with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 69-69. On the ensuing inbounds pass by Vanderbilt, Ronni Williams forced a turnover, giving Florida the ball with 4.9 seconds remaining in the game. After January Miller missed a last-second shot, the game went into overtime where Vanderbilt won the game.
Series Update:
· Following tonight's loss, the Gators dropped their all-time record to 21-33 against Vanderbilt and tied the regular-season series (1-1)
· Seven of the last nine meetings between the two schools have been decided by single digits, including three overtime games
Overtime:
· Tonight was Florida's first overtime game of the season; first since Dec. 28, 2013 when the Gators defeated Georgetown, 67-65
Numbers of Note:
· Tonight's loss was the first-ever loss by UF when wearing its all-pink uniforms (4-1)
· Florida shot 15-of-27 (55.6%) from the field in the first half and scored 36 points, the highest first-half point total since UF scored 41 points in the first half against Arkansas on Jan. 25
· Florida shot 50.0% from the field on 32-of-64 shooting. The Gators have shot 50.0% or better in five games this season, winning all but tonight's game
· Florida overcame a 44-36 halftime deficit along with deficits as large as 12 points throughout the game to draw the score even and force overtime
· The Gators went the first 40 minutes and 31 seconds of the game before taking their first lead of the game on two made free throws by January Miller
Individuals:
· Cassie Peoples dished out seven assists, one shy of her season and career high
· Ronni Williams had a season-high three blocks and added 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists
Double-Figures:
· Kayla Lewis scored 10 points, her 15th game this season in double-figures and the 52nd of her career
· Carlie Needles tallied 10 points, her 11th game this season in double-figures and the 26th of her career
· Ronni Williams netted 17 points, her 15th double-digit scoring night of the season and 29th of her career
· January Miller scored 15 points, and reached double-figures for the third consecutive game, while posting her ninth double-figure scoring game of the season and 33rd of her career
Thrillers:
· Florida is now 4-8 in games this year decided by 10 points or less, including 1-5 in SEC play.
· In eight years under Head Coach Amanda Butler, this is the fourth one-point loss for the Gators and the first since a 73-72 double-overtime setback at Arkansas on January 28, 2012.
Streaks:
· Cassie Peoples connected on a three-pointer at the 17:33 mark of the first half, extending the Gators' streak with at least one trey to 156
· Peoples continued her team-best 36-game consecutive scoring streak tonight
· January Miller's streak of 13-conseuctive free throws made came to an end during the first half of tonight's game
Starters:
· Kayla Lewis- made her 86th career start and 58th consecutive
· Carlie Needles- recorded her 56th career start
· Haley Lorenzen- appeared in the starting lineup for the 16th time in her career
· Brooke Copeland- made her 10th career start and tenth in a row
· Cassie Peoples - notched her 45th career start
· This is the second time Florida has used this starting lineup this season and is now 0-2
· Second half starters: Lewis, Needles, Peoples, Williams, Miller
Quotes from the Court:
UF Head Coach Amanda Butler
Opening Statement:
“Defeating is just not the word that I would use. We are going to learn from it. We practice special situations all the time. In practice we don't always hit the shot and that's what we talk about why we've got to put ourselves in the position to take a good shot. We don't have room in our lives for losing, we don't have room in our brains. That's not the way we're wired. We're fighters and fighters don't dwell on defeat. They are thinking about the next opportunity to land a punch.”
On the second-half comeback:
“I thought that we played great defense in the second half. Just really stingy and a lot smarter personnel wise, and we got rebounds. We got stops and we got rebounds, and were in position to score. We scored enough to catch back up, but when you cut in to a lead like that you're playing really tough defense. I felt that's what we did.”
On January Miller's last-second shot:
“You don't really have a chance to change a play call and have a whole new play. We had different options out of that play and that's what we'll look at when we have a chance to look at the film and see what was open. Base line and out-of-bounds is the same thing. We had an opportunity with the ball. There were a lot of things and we've just got to do a good job of making sure we can see all options that everybody sets good screens and are ready to score. Again, that's why you practice it and when you get a chance to execute it in the game you hope you put yourself in position to score. We still got a great shot off. A shot that everyone in the gym believed was going to fall. There's no doubt. We felt [January Miller] was going to hit that shot, and she did a great job.”
On if the game was their best game of the season:
“I don't think so at all. I think it was an inspiring and well fought second half, but I think we've played better basketball for 40 minutes. We've played more balanced basketball in terms of both ends of the floor. I don't think we played poorly, but I don't think it was our best.”
UF Junior Guard January Miller
On driving the lane on the couple of shots:
“During that time I felt like I just needed to get a score since we were only down by one. I was hoping to maybe get a foul and get to the line. I thought I was going to get fouled; it happens.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
Opening Statement:
“It feels good to get a win. They went zone. We don't see a lot of zone in the SEC. Everybody denies us real hard, chases our shooters around and makes them go fast, and we had time to shoot the basketball and Rebekah Dahlman and Rachel Bell really shot well. I knew this was a game we could win on the road. We have traditionally won down here. They have kind of beaten us up there, and it's kind of flip-flopped. I felt like if we did the things we talked about fixing from the last game and really tried to get it back and just get to play free at this point. I thought that if our kids really stuck to the game plan for 40 minutes that we would be able to do that.”
Next Gator Game:
What: Florida (12-14, 4-9 SEC) at #15/15 Texas A&M (21-6, 9-4 SEC)
When: Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 4 p.m. ET
Where: Reed Arena * College Station, Texas
Television: SEC Network with Lisa Harris and Nell Fortner
For all of the latest information on Florida women's basketball:
Official Website: www.gatorzone.com/basketball/women
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FloridaWomensBasketball
Twitter: @GatorZoneWBK and @CoachButlerUF
Instagram: GatorzoneWBK
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