Box Score | Highlights 

BATON ROUGE, La. – Fueled by a combined 40 points from standouts Kiki Smith and Lavender Briggs, the University of Florida women's basketball team took down the LSU Tigers, 73-66 in an overtime thriller Thursday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
 
Both recording double-doubles, the senior Smith and the sophomore Briggs were excellent in the victory but it was a total team effort that propelled the Gators to their first win in Baton Rouge since 2016. Taking the court for the first time in 11 days, Florida received contributions up and down the lineup and outrebounded the host Tigers 43-35 on their home court.
 
After it looked like Smith may have won the game for the Gators on an acrobatic, floating layup at the buzzer, her attempt was ruled no good and the game was sent to overtime. Playing in its first over time period of the season, Florida would not be denied as it outscored the Tigers 16-9 in the extra session and notched its second SEC road win.
 
With 48 seconds remaining and Florida clinging to a 67-66 lead, out of a timeout Briggs drained her third triple of the game, a make that would essentially seal the game for the scrappy Gators. Briggs' wouldn't let the Gators be denied as she willed them to a win with six points in the overtime stanza.
 
Scoring 20 or more points for the fifth time her last six games, UF's do-it-all point guard Smith delivered an outstanding effort with a team-best 21 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists. One of the SEC's elite scorers, Briggs showed why with 19 points and 10 rebounds and her fourth double-double of the season
 
Florida notched just its sixth win all time in Baton Rouge and its first win at LSU since 2016.
 
Florida's freshmen class played well beyond their years as Floor Toonders, Jordyn Merritt and Brynn Farrell combined for 19 points. Eight of those points belonged to UF's rookie from the Netherlands, Toonders, who matched her career high with eight points earning her second-straight start. Farrell also matched her career best with six points off the bench for Florida.
 
Merritt came up big in the overtime period, scoring four points. The freshman finished the game with five points, four rebounds and a career-best four assists.
 
Florida's freshmen and sophomore classes combined to play 192 of the 225 minutes in the game and totaled 49 of the 73 points.
 
Going up against the Tigers' tricky zone defense, Florida attacked aggressively all night as they made it to the free throw line 33 times and knocked in some crucial charity stripe conversions in crunch time.
 
The short-handed Gators, featuring their fifth different lineup combination of the season, battled hard for their 10^th win of the season.
 
After missing the Gators' last three contests due to health and safety protocols, fourth-year head coach Cam Newbauer guided the Gators to a crucial road win.
 
Playing on a court named after one of the game's finest players, Pete Maravich, Briggs and Smith ignited for an excellent offensive performance.
 
Senior guard Kayla Pointer led the Tigers with 27 points while Faustine Aifuwa tallied 16 and 10 boards.
 
Florida faced a 10-4 deficit at the game's first media timeout after enduring some offensive lulls to begin. The Gators struggled to hold onto the ball early in the contest against LSU's zone as the Tigers turned six Gator miscues into six points in the first six minutes. Smith and Briggs did not take a shot in the first six minutes of action. Florida quickly found its footing though, making four of five shots in a stretch to slice the lead down to 16-14 at the quarter's end. Farrell scored three points late in the frame to provide a spark off the bench while Toonders tallied four to lead UF in the frame. Following a 1-of-4 start from the floor, the Gators finished 5-of-10 and held a 9-5 edge on the boards.
 
Briggs scored the first points of the second to tie the score at 16-16 just seconds in. After some back and forth play, the score stood at 18-18 at the second quarter's media stoppage. Out of the break, Florida scored on consecutive possessions to jump ahead 22-18 with under three minutes to play in the first half. Briggs swished a corner three-pointer to extend UF's run to 7-0 and prompted an LSU timeout. During the run Florida's defense was tremendous as it held the Tigers scoreless for over six minutes before Pointer made a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 33 seconds remaining. UF carried a 25-21 edge heading into the half. The Gators allowed just five points in the second, a season best.
 
Totaling their third-fewest first half points of the season, the Gators leaned on a stingy defense unit which conceded a new season-low in points allowed in an opening half. Smith and Briggs accounted for 11 of UF's points with the senior point guard Smith leading the way with six. Florida allowed LSU to shoot just 30.8 percent collectively in the first, its fourth-lowest first half field goal percentage allowed this season.
 
The Tigers opened the second half with the possession and scored on their first trip down the floor to quickly make it a one possession game. After holding the Tigers scoreless for another two minute segment and a three-pointer from Briggs, Florida led 30-26 at the under five media break. The scoring began to pick up later in the stanza as the teams combined for 32 points in the third after just a combined 16 in the second period. The teams played to a 16-16 stalemate in the quarter, giving the Gators a 41-37 edge heading into the fourth. Smith added six points and three assists in the third quarter while Briggs added four.
 
Following an empty possession for each squad to open the fourth, LSU's pointer converted a traditional three-point play with 8:50 on the clock to make it 41-40.  Florida then turned the ball over on the ensuing timeout and Newbauer elected to call a timeout to quell the Tigers' run. Following the timeout, Pointer scored again giving LSU a 42-41 lead but Briggs answered right back with her patented pull-up jumper. Back came LSU though as Pointer dropped in a floater to give it the lead with seven minutes to play. Smith knocked down a pair of free throws after an offensive rebound to put the Gators back ahead 45-44 and Toonders added an offensive rebound and a score on the next possession to make it 47-44.
 
Florida carried a 47-46 lead heading into the game's final media timeout which occurred with five minutes on the clock after Briggs was fouled on a jump shot. The sophomore standout made both to put Florida back ahead three. Following an LSU miss, Smith made two of her own to make it a five-point game.
 
LSU used a 6-0 swing to quickly take the lead with under four minutes to go. With scored deadlocked at 54-54, Merritt went to the line after she was fouled on an aggressive take through the lane. The rookie Merritt made 1-of-2 to put the Gators ahead 55-54 with under two minutes on clock.
 
Toonders took a charge on the next play and Smith scored to put Florida up 57-54. Again though LSU responded as Pointer converted another traditional three-point play to knot the score up at 57-57 with 1:20 remaining .
 
After an LSU miss, Florida gained possession with 33 seconds remaining and elected not to call a timeout and leave the senior guard to decide the game. With the clock dwindling down, Smith charged toward the goal, lost control but collected the ball and threw up a floater. The shot went down and it a celebration ensued, but the attempted was ruled no good following a shot clock violation. LSU shot at the buzzer but its attempt clanged off the back of the rim. After LSU outscored UF 20-16 in the fourth the teams went overtime deadlocked at 57-57.
 
Briggs scored on the Gators' opening possession of overtime and after the teams exchanged blows, the teams were tied up at 61-61. The freshman Farrell split a trip at the line to put the Gators ahead but Aifuwa scored on the next trip down to put LSU ahead. Senior guard Danielle Rainey calmly knocked down a pair from the line to put Florida back ahead 64-63. Following Rainey's clutch conversions, the Gators would not trail the rest of the way.

NEXT UP: Florida's next scheduled game is Monday, Feb. 15 at home vs. No. 20 Kentucky. It will be Florida's annual Play4Kay game at Exactech Arena at the O'Connell Center. Florida and Kentucky will meet for the first time since Florida pulled off the upset over then No. 13 in Lexington last February. The contest will air live on the SEC Network and tipoff at 7 p.m. ET.
 
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Cam Newbauer
On the resilience of the time to continue to fight in overtime…
 "Resilience. Not going to lie to you man, you hit what you think is a game winner right there at the buzzer. Then, you gotta look at your team and tell them: "Hey guys, we got to go to overtime." And you're not sure until you're in that moment, but the way they fought and just stayed so resilient and stuck together. The big plays that were made, Danielle Rainey comes in and hits two free throws when she was sitting cold. Floor Toonders takes a huge charge. You know, obviously Kiki and Lav did what they did. Jordyn Merritt hits those free throws at the end. Brynn Farrell as a freshman just stepping up and making some big plays, you know we made plays. We just made plays. Game-winning plays on the road in a game that we really wanted to win and I just love the resilience and the strength that we played with."
 
On the team's continued belief in overtime…
 "We just had to keep them believing. Knowing that, we just said we've controlled the game. We've controlled the tempo all game, we just got to do it for five more minutes. We have the fight and the strength and we've worked on this, we've trained for it. Now, you just have to trust your training. For that to happen the way it did, it's awesome. It wasn't the prettiest of games offensively and that's what they do. They are a very, very good defensive team and they want to control that tempo. And I just liked how aggressive we were, we got 33 free throws and attacked like crazy. And I, you know, would much rather win by more than what we did. But, just to stick it out in a close, ugly game is so great."
 
NOTABLES

• Smith notched her fifth double-double of the season while Briggs added her fourth.
• Smith scored 20 or more points for the fifth time in her last six games.
• Florida won for just the sixth time ever in Baton Rouge.
• Freshman Jordyn Merritt made her second career start.
• Freshman Floor Toonders made her second career start.
• Senior Danielle Rainey made her 10^th career start and first since the 2018-19 season and first since March 6, 2019 vs. Ole Miss.
• UF featured its fifth different lineup of the season.
• Florida improved to 9-0 when leading at the half.
• Florida allowed just 5 second quarter points, a season best.
• Florida's 25 first half points were its third fewest of the season.
• Florida allowed LSU to shoot just 30.8 percent collectively in the first, its fourth-lowest first half field goal percentage allowed this season.
• Merritt tallied three assists in the first half and four for the game, a new career high.
• Florida improves to 8-1 when outrebounding its opponent.
• Florida, which entered the game leading the SEC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 24 percent, limited the Tigers to a 1-of-9 mark from behind the arc.

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