The University of Florida women’s basketball team used a balanced offensive attack, which saw three players score in double figures, and stifling defense to down Charleston Southern, 83-59, Tuesday evening on the opening day of the 2011 Gator Holiday Classic.
Florida will play Duquesne in the championship game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the O’Connell Center. The Dukes (10-1) defeated Maine, 76-38, in their opening round bout. The Bears and Buccaneers will play the consolation game beginning at 4:30 p.m.
“I’m really pleased with this win, in particular, the second half, as well as the first part of the second half,” Gator head coach Amanda Butler said. “We had some defensive lapses and some moments when we didn’t lock up and play the type of defense we’ve been practicing. I also thought that we did a good job of coming back and making adjustments and applying those adjustments and regaining control of the tempo. I thought that was a factor for us.”
Florida (8-3) led wire-to-wire, but it wasn’t as easy early in the contest as the final 24-point margin might indicate. The Gators held a 42-34 halftime lead against the Buccaneers (6-4), who came out strong in the second period, cutting UF’s lead in half just over four minutes into the frame.
After CSU closed within four points, 50-46, with 15:42 remaining, the Gators kept their composure and ripped off 16 straight points over the next 8:47of the game and built their lead to 66-46 with 7:09 left on the clock.
The game-changing run was keyed by lockdown defense and ignited by a pair of layups from senior guard Deana Allen (Houma, La.) and a trio of jumpers from redshirt-senior forward Ndidi Madu (Antioch, Tenn.).
The Gator defense starred in the second half, when UF limited the Buccaneers to 36.5 percent shooting for the final 20 minutes, including a stretch of 9:46 where CSU was held without a field goal and the visitors committed 10 turnovers.
For the contest, UF was led by a trio of players who scored in double figures, as senior guard Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) scored 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added three assists along with three steals. Junior forward Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) scored all 19 of her points in the first half on 9-of-9 shooting, before collecting six more rebounds in the second to post her third consecutive double-double with 10 boards to headline Florida’s 43-33 rebounding advantage.
Sophomore guard Brittany Shine (Sacramento, Calif.) scored a season-high 14 points to lead Florida’s bench brigade.
“Obviously (Jennifer) George got us out of the gates quickly,” Butler said. “One of the most impressive stats looking at the stat sheet was our bench out-scoring their bench, 30-4. We expect to go deep into our bench and get production. It was a good win against a good team.”
The Gators jumped out to an early 17-6 advantage less than seven minutes into the game behind a quick 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from George. Florida was able to push its lead to 12 as Jones poured in a trio of threes. The Buccaneers fought back and were able to cut the UF lead to eight entering the halftime break. In the first half, George was a perfect nine-for-nine from the field and one-of-one from the line for 19 points. Jones added 14 of her own in the first to give the Gators a 42-34 advantage heading into the locker room.
Florida dished a season-high 22 assists on its 31 field goals, paced by sophomore Jaterra Bond (Gainesville, Fla.), who provided a career-best nine.
