Making her first career start, freshman Florida guard Brittany Shine (Sacramento, Calif.) scored a career-high 28 points to direct the Gators to a 95-38 win against Alabama State on Monday in the Gator Holiday Classic at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
The Gators (9-3), playing their first game since Dec. 10 due to final exams, used a balanced offensive output that placed four players in double-figure scoring. It marked the seventh time this season that Florida has placed three or more players in double figures in a single game and the third time that four or more players have tallied double-figures in points.
“I’m very pleased with a lot of different things,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler said. “First and foremost is just responding in a really, really tough week of practice. It was exam week and we really get to focus on getting better as students and we did a fantastic job of in that regard. When you’ve had a disappointing loss and you have a bunch of time to practice, you can kind of get in a rut. I never really felt like our team did that. We came out fighting and looking for ways to get better every single day. There was probably a part of them where they were quite ready to play someone else besides themselves.”
Shine became the first Gator this season to eclipse the 20-point plateau this season, besting her previous career high of 16 points set against Harvard on Dec. 7. Her 28 points were the most scored by a Gator since Sha Brooks poured in 29 points against Tennessee on Feb. 8, 2009. She connected on 4-of-9 three-pointers, tying for the most by a Gator in a single game this season. Shine reached her career high by halftime with 19 points in the opening period.
Sophomore forward Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) was impressive on the defensive end, blocking a career-high nine shots, which ties for the second-most rejections in a single game in school history. Vanessa Hayden holds the school record with 10 blocked shots against Kent State on Dec. 29, 2001. George becomes just the second different player in school history to chart nine or more blocks in a single game. George added six rebounds and five points in 16 minutes of action.
“It’s not really surprising,” Butler said. “George is such an incredible physical presence and, much like a shooter gets in a zone, I think a shot blocker gets some timing and some rhythm on someone. [Alabama State] was a little smaller and I was just excited to see George really try and physically dominate because I think that’s a part of her game that has been there on some nights and not on others. For her to have that sort of defensive presence changes that end of the floor for us.”
Freshman guard Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, Fla.) scored 13 points in the game, marking her fifth double-figure scoring effort this season. She also dished out a career-high nine assists, marking the most charted by any Gator player since Sha Brooks dished out 10 assists against Arkansas on Feb. 1, 2009.
Junior point guard Lanita Bartley (Jacksonville, Fla.) came up with a career-high five steals – the most of any Florida player this season. She also tied her Florida career high with 12 points, matching her best of 12 scored against UCF in the season opener on Nov. 13.
Junior Deana Allen (Houma, La.) also tallied a career-high 13 points, hitting 2-of-3 three-pointers, as well as 5-of-6 from the free throw line, while tying her career-highs of three assists and three steals.
Junior center Azania Stewart (Wood Green, England) brought down a team-high eight rebounds. The Gators won the rebound battle 50-44, marking the 11th time in 12 games this season that Florida has won the battle of the boards.
Florida shot 46.2 percent (36-of-78) from the floor, connecting on 10 three-pointers in the game. The Gators limited the Hornets to 26.3 percent (15-of-57) shooting in the game. It was Florida’s lowest shooting percentage defense of the season. Alabama State’s 17 points in the second half marked the fewest allowed by the Gators in a single half this season.
The Gators raced out to an early 9-0 lead at the 15:29 mark of the opening period, holding the Hornets without a basket for nearly five minutes to start the game. Florida extended its advantage to 14-3 after a three-point play by Bartley and a basket by Ndidi Madu (Antioch, Tenn.) at the 13:45 mark of the first half. A basket by Bonds and a three-pointer by Shine on back-to-back plays widened UF’s lead to 14, 19-5, with 12:33 remaining until intermission.
The two teams traded baskets, as Alabama State cut within 12, 23-11, but a three-pointer by Shine gave Florida a 15-point edge, 26-11, with 9:20 left in the half. With the Gators leading 26-13, Florida used a 9-0 run, powered by four points from Deaundra Young (Titusville, Fla.), to go up 37-13. Florida kept rolling to a 53-21 halftime advantage, closing the opening period on a 16-8 run.
Florida shot 46.3 percent (19-of-41) from the floor in the first half, while limiting Alabama State to just a 30.8 percent (8-of-26) tally from the field. The Gators had 10 steals in the opening period, scoring 23 points off of miscues by the Hornets.
“There was a concern [about letting up],” Butler said. “We talked about that at halftime and we set some halftime goals. One of those was to hold them under 20 points in the second half. We weren’t pressing or doing anything special in the second half, just with straight-up man pressure and half-court defense. I was just really proud of them for doing that. That’s the first time we’ve really gotten a sizeable lead this year and then maintained it. We really put our foot down and showed that this is what we’re supposed to do in these moments - we’re supposed to separate ourselves right now. That’s a step in the right direction.”
The Gators quickly built a 40-point lead out of intermission, going up 68-28 at the 14:53 mark of the final period on a free-throw by Stewart. Florida never led by fewer than 40 points the rest of the way with the biggest lead of the game being the final 57-point, 95-38, margin.
Alabama State (2-7) was led by Tankia Jackson’s double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes of action.
