Women's Basketball's Three-Game, Thanksgiving Week Road Swing Begins Monday at Florida Atlantic

Monday, November 24

Boca Raton, FL

7 p.m.

Florida Gators

Florida Atlantic

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2025 11 20 Laila Reynolds eyes the lane against Florida State

Women's Basketball's Three-Game, Thanksgiving Week Road Swing Begins Monday at Florida Atlantic

Sunday, November 23, 2025 | Women's Basketball

By: John Maxwell

Boca Raton, Fla. — The Florida Women's Basketball team returns to the road next week as the Gators travel first to Boca Raton to take on Florida Atlantic Monday, Nov. 24, before setting sail for the Cayman Islands for a two-game Thanksgiving weekend tournament.

Florida is a perfect 5-0 at home in 2025-26, but dropped a 69-54 decision to Navy in its first road tilt of the year. The Gators were without preseason All-SEC selection Liv McGill for the game against Navy, but she returned the following game vs Florida State and posted a stat line of 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists and seven steals.

There have been five games in NCAA Division I women's basketball this season in which a player has scored 25 or more points, grabbed five or more rebounds, handed out five or more steals and picked up five or more steals. McGill has three of those games.

Sophomore forward Me'Arah O'Neal has four double-doubles on the season, which are the second highest total in the nation, and junior Laila Reynolds is averaging 17.3 points per game over her most recent four contests.

Florida Atlantic is 2-2 on the season following its 70-63 loss to South Alabama Thursday, Nov. 20. Eight different owls have seen the starting lineup just four games into the season, and they are led by a pair of double figures scorers in junior guard Grace Carstensen (12.3 ppg, .552, FG%, .571 3G%), and junior forward Vivian Onugha (12.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, .640 FG%)

The Gators are 8-1 all-time against the Owls, including wins in the last six five meetings between the clubs. These teams last met on Nov. 4, 2024 when Jeriah Warren's 21 points led four Gators in double-figure scoring in an 82-54 victory. Florida forced the Owls into committing 15 turnovers which the Gators turned into 23 points, while Florida Atlantic caused eight Florida miscues which the Owls flipped into just two points. The Gators and Owls haven't played on Florida Atlantic's home court since the 1994-95 season.

Florida Atlantic (2-2)

Date: Monday, November 24
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Site: Abessinio Court at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena
Listen: FloridaGators.com
Watch: ESPN+
Live stats: FloridaGators.com

A FLORIDA WIN WOULD …

Improve the Gators record to 6-1 on the season.
Improve Florida's record against the Owls to 9-1 overall, and 3-1 on the road.
Be the Gator's sixth straight against Florida Atlantic.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Florida		Florida Atl
86.7	PPG	67.0
57.5	OPP PPG	65.8
+31.2	SCORING MARGIN	+2.8
48.0	FG %	43.5
38.1	OPP FG%	46.1
28.9	3 FG%	38.0
31.9	OPP 3 FG%	30.2
6.2	3FG/G	7.5
69.2	FT %	68.1
41.7	REBOUNDS/G	28.5
33.7	OPP REBOUNDS/G	33.0
+8.0	REB MARGIN	-4.5
14.0	ASSISTS/G	13.8
13.5	TURNOVER/G	17.8
+1.04	A/TO RATIO	+0.77
13.3	STEALS/G	10.0
3.33	BLOCKS/G	2.50

PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS

	No.	Ht.	Pos.	Class	Hometown/Previous School
Me'Arah O'Neal	8	6-4	F	So	Houston Texas
Alexia Dizeko	9	5-11	G	Gr.	Sion, Switzerland
Laila Reynolds	13	6-1	G	Jr.	PG County, Md.
Caterina Piatti	14	6-4	F	Fr.	Scandiano, Italy
Liv McGill	23	5-9	G	So	Minneapolis, Minn.

GATOR BITES

Through games of Tuesday, Nov. 18, Florida ranks fifth in the SEC this season in points per game (86.7), tied for eighth in scoring margin (+29.2), eighth in field goal percentage (.480), fifth in steals (13.3), and third in turnover margin (+10.8).
Liv McGill just missed out on her second career triple-double with a 26-point, 9-rebound, 9-assist effort vs. North Florida on Nov. 3. She came up two rebounds shy in the Gators following game against Chattanooga on Nov. 6 with 38 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds.
Liv McGill became the first player in Gators women's basketball history to be named a US Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 11. She averaged 27.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.00 steals while connecting on 40.9 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in Florida's three wins. She also was named the SEC Player of the Week for her performance during that same stretch of games.
Since the 1999-2000 season, only two players in the SEC have recorded three or more games of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals—Liv McGill (three in the first six games this season) and Ole Miss' Armintie Price (four)
The Gators are one of only four teams in the nation with three players each averaging 15.0 or more points per game—Liv McGIll (26.0 ppg), Me'Arah O'Neal (16.3) and Laila Reynolds (15.5).
Me'Arah O'Neal has four double-doubles this season after recording one in her freshman campaign.

PROJECTED FLORIDA ATLANTIC STARTERS *

	No.	Ht.	Pos.	Class	Hometown / Previous Schools
Destyne Jackson	0	5-7	G	Gr.	Lexington, Ky. / Memphis
Grace Carstensen	2	5-11	G	Jr.	Hinsdale, Ill. / DePaul
Jess Moors	3	6-0	G	Gr.	Auckland, New Zealand / Nova Southeastern
Michiyah Simmons	4	5-6	G	Sr.	Pompano Beach, Fla. / South Alabama
Vivian Onugha	22	6-2	F	Jr.	Lagos, Nigeria / Barton Community College

* Eight different Owls have picked up a start in the team's first four games. This is the group that started their last game vs. South Alabama

OWLS QUICK HITS

Florida Atlantic's top five scorers are a junior, a junior, a senior, a graduate student, and a graduate student, while Florida's are a sophomore, a sophomore, a junior, a freshman, and a freshman.
The Owls are in their third season in the American Athletic Conference having been in Conference USA (2013-23), the Sun Belt Conference (2006-13), and the Atlantic Sun (1993-2006) in the years prior.
Florida Atlantic's last trip to the NCAAs was in 2005-06 following a 20-11 regular season record. Since then, they have recorded just two winning seasons (17-13 in 2011-12); 16-14 in 2013-14) leading to one NIT appearance (2011-12).
The Owls boast just two double-figure scorers (Grace Carstensen, 12.3 ppg; Vivian Onugha, 12.3 ppg), but six other players average between 5.5 and 8.5 points per game in a balanced scoring attack.
All nine Owls who have checked into at least one game this season are averaging at least 18 minutes per game. Only Jess Moors is averaging more than 30 minutes per game (31.3 mpg).

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