McGill, O'Neal, Reynolds Power Gators Past Intrastate Rival Florida State, 89-67

Thursday, November 20

Gainesville, FL

6:30 p.m.

Florida Gators

5-1,0-0SEC

Florida State

3-3,0-0ACC

Florida St.

Florida

McGill, O'Neal, Reynolds Power Gators Past Intrastate Rival Florida State, 89-67

Thursday, November 20, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: John Maxwell

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Liv McGill teased the crowd with a potential quadruple-double (27 points, seven rebounds, five assists, seven steals), while Laila Reynolds added a career-high 21 points, and Me'Arah O'Neal posted an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double in the Florida Gators 89-67 win over intrastate rival Florida State, Thursday evening.

KEY RUNS
1st Quarter (Gators 23, Seminoles 16)

Neither team led by more than three points through the first six-plus minutes of play, but a 9-0 Gators run put Florida up eight, 18-10, with 2:45 to go in the period. Laila Reynolds led all scorers with 10 points in the quarter. The Gators went 10 for 17 from the field in the first.

2nd Quarter (Gators 41, Seminoles 34)

Florida extended its lead to as many as 15 in the second but a 12-1 Seminoles run late in the half sliced the Gators' advantage to four with under a minute to go. Liv McGill and Florida State's Allie Kubek each had seven points in the period.

3rd Quarter (Gators 62, Seminoles 45)

The Seminoles connected on the first bucket of the period to cut their deficit to five, but Florida scored 12 of the next 16 to go back up by a baker's dozen, 53-40. Liv McGill scored a game-high nine points in the quarter and added five steals, as the Gators' defense held the Seminoles to 3 of 13 shooting including 0 for 4 from beyond the arc.

4th Quarter (Gators 89, Seminoles 67)

Florida State never got closer than 12 in the fourth as the Gators closed the game on a 14-5 run. Me'Arah O'Neal led all scorers with 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in the quarter, going three for three from the field and connecting on all six of her free throw attempts.

KEY STATS

Florida outshot Florida State from the field, 47.1% (33-70) to 42.6% (26-61)
Florida held the Seminoles leading scorer, Solé Williams, to 15 points on six of 15 shooting. She also committed six turnovers on the night. Entering the game, Williams was averaging 17.5 points on 52.2 percent shooting, including 50.0 percent from distance.
Florida forced the Seminoles into 25 turnovers which the Gators flipped into 38 points. Meanwhile, Florida State scored 13 points off of 16 Florida miscues.
The Gators outscored the Seminoles 22-4 in fast break points, and 50-38 in the paint.
Florida recorded a season-high 20 steals compared to nine for the Seminoles.

Post Game Press Conference: Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley, Laila Reynolds, Me'Arah O'Neal, and Liv McGill

FROM THE GATORS' MOUTHS

Coach Finley opening statement … "That's Florida basketball, start to finish. I think that's what you saw. That's what we expect. That's how we train. And these three sitting here with me (Laila Reynolds, Me'Arah O'Neal and Liv McGill) set the tone for that. They've all grown tremendously, and they would stand by me when I say the strength of our team, is our team. And they set the tone for what we do. We are connected. We're resilient. We're hungry. And that's what you saw on the court tonight."
Liv McGill on the Florida State rivalry … "For those of you who weren't here last year. I was here last year. And we lost. So I never forget that type of stuff. No matter if it's a new team, (smiles) we're running Florida, so we made a statement tonight."
Laila Reynolds on her hot first quarter (10 points on 4 of 6 shooting) … "It was really our defense. Lex came to play, guarding one of their best players, and that just fueled our offense and my teammates kept me going, and we all just kept leaning on each other."
Coach Finley on the team's defense on Seminoles leading scorer Solé Williams … "Lex Dizeko is a standout defender. She takes her role very seriously. She's elite at what she does. She's a great offensive player as well, but that's not what we asked her to do tonight. One thing about Lex is that whatever the team needs, she's willing to do, and it was a key to our success because these guys didn't have to pull in rotation. They were able to stay locked up as a result of her defense. We didn't have any forced rotations off of ball screens, and as a result we got a lot of deflections, and 38 points off turnovers. "

GATOR BITES

The Gators are now 44-36 all-time against Florida State.
Each of Florida's last eight wins in the series have been by double-digits.
Me'Arah O'Neal scored in double figures for the sixth straight game this season, and the eighth time in her career (18 points), and posted her fourth double-double of the season (11 rebounds).
Laila Reynolds scored a career-high 21 points, reaching double figures for the fifth time this season, and the 31st time in her career. It was also her second career game with 20 or more points.
Liv McGill scored 20 or more points for the fourth time this season and the 17th time in her career (27 points).
McGill also tied her career-high in steals with seven.
Nyadieng Yiech scored in double figures for the fourth time in her collegiate career (11 points), and added a career-high eight rebounds.

NEXT OPPONENT
The Gators hit the road next week for a Monday, Nov. 24 meeting with Florida Atlantic (2-1 heading into tonight's game at South Alabama). Tip on ESPN+ is slated for 7 p.m. EST.

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