Fourth-ranked Tennessee opened the second half against Florida scoring the first 12 points and blew open a single-digit game en route to a 61-39 decision at Thompson-Boling Arena Thursday evening in front of 11,741.
Florida (14-12, 4-8 Southeastern Conference) trailed by nine points at halftime and showed marked improvements from its 43-point loss in January to the Lady Vols (23-2, 11-0 SEC), who won the rebounding battle by two on Thursday compared with the +20 dominance they showed in the Gainesville meeting.
“We still lost badly, but I thought we fought hard and our effort was there. In terms of execution and attention to detail we didn’t even come close to do what we needed to do tonight,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “You have to credit Tennessee because they are a fantastic program. I’m just really disappointed in our second half. We didn’t sustain the focus we needed to in order to run the game plan.”
Freshman Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, Fla.) scored a Gator-high 10 points, while collecting a team-best six rebounds for Florida, which had nine different players score.
Shekinna Stricklen led all scorers with 17 points, while Glory Johnson added 16 points, hitting 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
Florida went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe and shot just 25 percent overall (15-60), while the Vols hit 38.5 percent from the floor and 16-of-24 from the line.
The Gator scored the final points of the fist half and were within nine points at halftime, but couldn’t have begun the second half much worse, allowing a three-point play, committing two fouls and turning the ball over twice in less than a minute.
Tennessee continued its intensity, as Shekinna Stricklen nailed a three-pointer and converted a layup after another UF miscue. Glory Johnson followed with the next four points and the Vols lead swelled to 21 points, 39-18, with 16:37 left in the game.
Lanita Bartley stopped the run and got the Gators on the second half scoreboard with her slashing layup and completed the three-point play with 15:53 to play.
UT scored the next three points, before Jaterra Bonds knocked down a three-pointer and sparked a 9-2 run and Florida cut the deficit to 14 points, 44-30, with 9:51 remaining.
The Gators had a few other opportunities to move even closer, but couldn’t take advantage as their shots to rattle and fall out of the hole.
Bartley dribbled in the lane, but was stripped for UF’s ninth turnover of the half and Johnson again converted the layup and stopped the Gator run.
The teams traded scores for the next two-plus minutes and Florida had trouble cutting into its deficit.
The hosts then tallied six consecutive points and capped the mini run with 3:37 to play and the Gators would never recover.
UT turned the ball over five times in the first three-plus minutes of the game and Florida took advantage by scoring three of its points and taking a 5-4 lead.
Jennifer George opened the game’s scoring, taking an inside feed from Azania Stewart and finishing the lay-up.
Meighan Simmons tallied the next four points of the game and the Lady Vols took a 4-2 advantage, before Deana Allen nailed a three-pointer from the right side off an in-bounds play.
Nidi Madu then put back an offensive rebound and the Gators led by three, 7-4, with 15:16 to go in the first half.
Florida went cold from the floor and wouldn’t hit a shot from the next five-plus minutes, as Tennessee ripped off a 14-0 run and took its first lead during the spree and emerged with an 18-7 advantage.
The Gators refused to fold and scored the next seven points, as George halted the UT run with two free throws, before Stewart took a feed from George and knocked down the short jumper and Jaterra Bonds tossed a bullet to the hoop from beyond the arc and cut the deficit to four points, 18-14, with 7:03 left in the first frame.
The Lady Vols took advantage of a pair of Gator miscues that helped the hosts score six straight points.
Deaundra Young added her name to the scorebook when she sank a six-footer and cut UT’s lead to eight, 24-16, with just over two minutes remaining.
Shekinna Stricklen, who scored 12 points during the first half, tallied the last three of those with a three-pointer in front of the Gator bench and lifted the Vols to 27-16.
Both teams missed on their ensuing offensive possessions, during which UT collected a pair of offensive rebounds, but couldn’t connect.
Allen missed her try with the shot clock winding down, but followed her miss and found George, who converted the layup with nine seconds on the clock and brought Florida within nine points entering the halftime locker room, 27-18.
The differential was a marked improvement from the earlier meeting between the two teams in Gainesville, where UT raced out to a 47-15 lead after the first 20 minutes.
In Thursday’s first half, seven different Gators contributed in the team’s scoring and rebounding effort, as Florida trailed on the boards by just four, 24-20.
Florida also had reason to be optimistic at halftime, as it shot a mere 21.9 percent (7-32), but trailed just eight. Tennessee hit 33.3 percent (9-27) from the floor and swatted six shots.
The Gators will aim to halt their three-game slide on Sun., Feb. 13, when they travel to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama in the inaugural game played at the newly renovated and historic Foster Auditorium.
