LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – Florida ran into one of the hottest teams in the Southeastern Conference and wasn't able to cool it as Auburn continued its streak with a 71-49 victory in the opening round of the SEC Tournament held at The Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas on Wednesday evening.
The Tigers had won three straight entering the league's postseason event, winning at Georgia, at Vanderbilt and taking the home win against rival Alabama in the regular-season finale. Only Missouri carried a longer win streak into Little Rock, riding a four-game run.
The start of Wednesday's game was moved up two hours because of weather in the Northern Arkansas area and Auburn came out ready with a 13-2 start.
The Gators fought back with five straight points after Auburn's quick start and cut their deficit to six points, however, the Tigers answered with back-to-back three-pointers and took a 19-7 lead with 9:35 remaining in the half.
Cassie Peoples converted Florida's only three-pointer of the game and redshirt senior Kayla Lewis followed with a bucket inside and cut UF's deficit to seven points with 7:56 left in the period.
The teams traded scores for the next six minutes and with the Gators still within striking range down 25-18, Auburn closed the first half scoring the final seven points and entered the locker room with a 32-18 cushion and the momentum and Florida would never recover.
Sophomore Ronni Williams, who was the only Gator to net a double-figure scoring effort, recorded her second double-double of the season and fifth of her career as she recorded 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Quotes from the Court – UF Head Coach Amanda Butler
Opening statement:
“I just want to congratulate Auburn. They were fantastic today. I think it's arguably the hottest team in the league right now. They did just a fantastic job from the jump of executing their game plan. We were reacting to that the entire game. We've got a lot of areas we have to look at and change and grow from, learn from. But Kayla didn't deserve the way we played today. I'm really disappointed for that.”
Q. Coach, you mentioned how well Auburn has been playing. What was the biggest concern playing a team first round of a tournament that closed the regular season on such a good run?
“Well, I mean, confidence is a really, really powerful thing. We had some tough situations down the stretch, disappointment our last home game, last regular‑season game. I thought we had the right mindset. But clearly I was wrong. I was wrong. Sometimes coaches are wrong. But I just really commend Terri. They had a lot of adversity this season, losing a significant player in a key time. I think you just got to commend her and her team the way they came together and played even tougher and harder for one another.”
Q. What do you think you can attribute the shooting trouble to tonight? Anything in particular?
“We've not been a very good shooting team all year. That's not what we hang our hat on. We put a lot more energy and effort into our defense which didn't hold up very well tonight either. Certainly you can shoot the ball and cover up for some breakdowns. But we didn't play particularly well on either end of the floor. But I give Auburn all the credit for that.”
UF Redshirt-Senior Kayla Lewis:
Q. You had trouble shooting the ball today. What can you attribute that to?
“Well, you can't ever attribute that to something. Shooting is something that comes and goes. You can have a good night or a bad night. Shooting the ball I don't think was our biggest problems. I think one of our biggest problems was we turned the ball over. We gave points to people in the way we knew they scored. We didn't do a good job defending Auburn, and they did a great job executing what they did well. Their press was very effective and has gotten better since the last time we played them. I don't think it was our shooting that lost the game.”
Q. Was that something you saw the last time, the press? How did that throw a wrench into what you were trying to do?
“Wasn't a surprise. Knew it. Worked on it. They did a good job in it. We didn't do a good job executing, miscommunications, not getting the ball out of our hands fast enough. Their execution was better than ours in the press.”
UF Sophomore Ronni Williams
Q. Ronni, they got off to such a good start. Looked like you came out at half with some energy. Was there a moment where you thought, 'This is where we make our run or was it always a struggle?'
“I wouldn't say it was a struggle. Our shots just weren't falling. Like Kayla said, we had turnovers. But Auburn is a great team. They have a great defense. So in order for us to be able to execute what we needed to do, it had to be perfection. The passes, we had to meet our passes. That was our main thing tonight, just meeting our passes.”
Auburn Head Coach Terri WILLIAMS‑FLOURNOY:
Opening Statement:
“I thought our players came out and started the game exactly how we wanted them to start, and that's playing defense. That's been key for us the last couple of games. Then not only playing defense, but converting some of those turnovers into points for us as well.”
Updated Records: Florida 13-17 … Auburn 13-17
Senior Salute
· Redshirt senior Kayla Lewis is the lone senior on the 2014-15 roster.
· She scored 9 points (4-8 FG, 1-2 FT) with three rebounds, two steals, one assist and one blocked shot in 27 minutes in the final game of her career.
· She concludes her career with 1,053 points that ranks No. 22 in program history
· Her 745 career rebounds rank No. 13 in Gator history
· She blocked 75 shots, tied for 13th-most in program history
· Played in 119 career games, tied for the 15th most all-time
· She started 91 games in her career, including the final 63
· She was the only Gator who started every game during the 2014-15 season.
· Lewis earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology in May 2014 and will received a second one in Family, Youth and Community Services in May 2015
Charting Williams' Work
· Sophomore Ronni Williams notched her second double-double of the year with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds
· Williams was UF's leading scorer for the eighth time this season and its leading rebounder for the ninth game
· Williams logged her team-leading 18th double-figure scoring game of the season, which also was the 32nd of her career
Individual Numbers of Note:
· Junior January Miller appeared in her 100th collegiate game
· Cassie Peoples scored five points and extended her team-leading scoring streak to 40 games
Other Numbers of Note:
· Auburn's 19 assists were tied for the most by a Gator opponent this season
· The Tigers held a 43-34 rebounding advantage and outscored UF 38-28 in the paint.
· Auburn's Brandy Montgomery scored a game-high 22 points, while Tra'Cee Tanner added 19 with eight rebounds
Start Me Up:
· Game Starters: Copeland, Needles, Peoples, Lewis, Lorenzen
· This starting five was 0-5 this year
· Lewis started her 63rd consecutive game and 91st of her career
· Copeland started her 14th straight game; 15th of career
· Peoples started her second consecutive game and 49th of her career
· Lorenzen started her fifth straight game and 21st of her career
· Second Half Starters: Copeland, Lewis, Peoples, Williams, Miller
Additional Links:
· (VIDEO) Official Postgame Press Conference with Coach Butler, Lewis and Williams:
o http://www.gatorvision.tv/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3772897&db_oem_id=6500
· Photo Galleries (courtesy Matt Pendleton Photography):
o GatorZone Gallery
o http://www.gatorzone.com/gallery/?gallery_id=3063
o Facebook Gallery –
o https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.673663479409092.1073741873.271395369635907
o Final Stats
o http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/women/boxscore.php?gameid=12888
