Florida Gators
Flagler (Exhibition)
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | Women's Basketball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the final tune up before regular season play begins, Florida women's basketball topped the Flagler Saints 107-54 on Wednesday night from Stephen C. O'Connell Center in an exhibition game.
Kiyomi McMiller led the Orange and Blue with 27 points to lead all scorers, adding a team high six assists. Four other Gators made their way into double figure scoring. Vanessa Harris (18 points), Vivian Iwuchukwu (16), Jade Weathersby (13) and Moriah Murray (11) combined for 58 points.
Harris and Weathersby both recorded double-doubles on the night: Harris tallied 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Weathersby added 13 points and 12 boards.
The Gators were hot from beyond the arc shooting at a 34.4% clip draining 11. Murray and McMiller each added three. On the inside, Iwuchukwu drew multiple fouls to make her way to the charity stripe to add six from the line.
The Florida Gators got off to a hot start from the tip with McMiller driving through the lane untouched on the opening possession. Florida found its success in transition going on a 9-0 run through the early minutes. McMiller drained a shot from beyond the arc to force a Flagler timeout. The Gators eventually extended their run to 18-0, and led 30-9 after the first frame.
The Gators put up walls defensively holding the Saints to just 20.5 shooting clip from the field in the first half. The Gators offense headed into the locker room with a 56-19 lead after Jade Weathersby drained two free throws to end the half.
Into the third, Florida continued to work inside posting 16 points in the paint. Harris hit her stride draining five of her six shots from the floor to add 11 points to the Gator offense, and the Gators held a 83-39 lead to enter the fourth frame.
It was a roundabout scoring effort for the Gators in the fourth with multiple players adding to the scoring efforts. Florida allowed just one member of the Saints to score in double figures as Nicole Carreno poured in a team-high 22 double. Weathersby led the Gators in the final frame with seven points, shooting 100% from the floor. In her unofficial collegiate debut, Bailey Harris came off the bench to notch the 11th three pointer of the game. Florida closed the game forcing four Flagler turnovers in four minutes.
The Gators will tip off their regular season on Monday, Nov. 2 against the Bucknell Bison on SECN+ at 6 p.m. ET from the O'Connell Center.
KEY STATS
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Vanessa Harris (18 points, 15 rebounds) and Jade Weathersby (13 points, 12 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles
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The Gators held Flagler to a 20.5% shooting clip in the first half, allowing just 19 points.
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Florida shot above 50% from the field in three quarters, including a fourth quarter high of 56.3%.
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The Orange and Blue drained 11 three-point shots, three each from Moriah Murray and Kiyomi McMiller.
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The Gators forced 15 turnovers, turning it into 20 points on the other side of the court.
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Jade Weathersby posted seven of the 20 offensive rebounds.
FROM THE GATORS' MOUTHS
Head Coach Tammi Reiss
Opening Statement
"First I just want to congratulate Flagler. I thought they played really well. I thought they got some decent players that play hard, so I really want to congratulate them. I thought they had a great second half. It felt really good to get this first exhibition game in the O'Dome under our belt. I think we needed it to get some kinks out, get our mojo with 13 new faces on how we do things, game day, what we do. So, really pleased with our effort in the first half. Not so pleased with our effort in the second half. We had a lot of letdowns, a lot of things to clean up, but overall, I think the girls played hard and played together. I thought they played very unselfish basketball tonight. Happy with the turnovers, happy with the offensive rebounds. So overall, good exhibition for us."
On Vanessa Harris' impact on the game...
"Vanessa impacted the game in so many ways. So when you look across that stat line and you see her rebounding, scoring, you see the steals, her blocks and assists. She impacted our game in every way, shape or form, especially when we had dead runs in the second half, she was in attack mode."
Sophomore guard Vanessa Harris
On her first game wearing the SEC logo on her chest...
"It was good, exciting. I feel like all summer I have just been working on how to improve, how to get better and improve from last year. Just developing my overall game, not just being a scorer, not just being a defensive player. So it felt really good to that in my first game in the SEC."
Post Game Press Conference: Head Coach Tammi Reiss, Vanessa Harris and Kiyomi McMiller
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