Junior
Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, Fla.) scored 12 of her game-high 17 points
in the second half and Florida rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit using
a 10-2 run to end with a 64-59 win against Arkansas on the second day of play
at the 2013 Southeastern Conference Tournament at the Gwinnett Center on Monday
afternoon.
“I
was really, really proud of our fight today,” UF head coach Amanda Butler
said. “It was in question during some points in the ballgame, but ultimately,
we really dug our heels in and made the plays when we had to. That last 12 to 14
minutes of the ballgame I thought showed a lot of toughness. There was a lot of
leadership on the floor and just a tremendous amount of fight that is essential
this time of year if you want to survive, especially in this league.”
Eighth-seeded
Arkansas (18-12) ended the first half on a 13-2 run and took a 33-30 halftime
lead and continued that momentum into the second half where the Razorbacks
opened the frame scoring the first eight points and took a 41-30 lead.
Bonds
scored two points from the free throw line to get the ninth-seeded Gators (18-13)
on the board for the first time in the second half at the 16:54 mark, before the
teams traded scores and Arkansas again held an 11-point cushion with 15:35
remaining.
Sydney
Moss
(Union, Ky.) hit Florida’s first goal of the second half with 15:20 to play and
Georgia-native Kayla Lewis put back an offensive rebound that trimmed the Gator
deficit to seven points, 43-36.
Doninique
Wilson, who was one of three Razorbacks to record a team-high 12 points, hit a
layup inside and had Arkansas back up by nine, 45-36, with 13:01 to play.
That’s
when Florida began to turn things around.
Jennifer
George
(Fresno, Calif.), the Gator’s lone senior, scored her first points of the game
on a tough inside bucket at the 12:42 mark and ignited a 16-4 run that gave
Florida a 52-49 lead with 7:42 remaining.
Redshirt-freshman
Carlie Needles (Highlands Ranch, Col.) sparked the Gators on defense as
she came up with a steal after George’s basket and converted a layup. Needles
came up with another steal on very next defensive possession and UF capitalized
again as George found Christin Mercer (Douglasville, Ga.) alone under
the net where she capped a run of six consecutive points.
The
teams exchanged scores for the next two and a half minutes before Bonds nailed
two free throws and drilled a three-pointer from the top of the arc that
propelled an 8-0 run, with George scoring two points and Bonds six during the
spurt that gave UF the 52-49 edge.
Arkansas
regrouped by scoring the next six points and retook the lead, 55-52, with 4:30
on the clock.
Moss,
who sank a career-best 7-of-8 from the three throw line during the win, stepped
up and nailed two from the stripe that cut the deficit to one.
Keira
Peak then hit a jumper and gave Arkansas they 57-54 advantage with 3:59
remaining.
Freshman
January Miller (Orlando, Fla.), who was the star of the first half when
scored 12 of her 14 points, converted a 12-foot jumper from straight away and
Moss converted a spinning layup in the paint that gave Florida a 58-57 lead
with 2:39 on the clock.
Peak
answered with a driving layup that swung the lead back to the Razorbacks, but
Bonds canned an athletic layup with 51 seconds remaining and then stepped to
the line where she coolly sank both ends of the one-and-one free throws with
30.1 seconds left that gave the Gators a 62-59 lead.
Wilson’s
jumper was off the mark and Moss corralled the defensive rebound and was
immediately fouled. The Gator rookie stepped up and drilled both to seal the
victory.
“Arkansas
has a great team,” Butler said. “I know they’re very disappointed but they have
nothing to hang their heads about. Those kids played really hard and Tom
(Collin) coached a great game. It’s a fantastic win for us.”
Moss
finished with 13 points and her six rebounds tied for team-high rebound honors with
George, while also dishing a team-best three assists in 34 minutes of action.
The
first half was filled with runs by both teams, as Florida took an early 12-6
lead thanks to scoring eight straight points thanks to three-pointers from
Carlie Needles and January Miller.
Arkansas
stormed right back with a 12-1 march and held an 18-13 lead with 7:31 remaining
in the first half.
Sydney
Moss finally halted Florida’s nearly five-minute draught without a field goal
with a floater in the paint before converting one free throw. Jaterra Bonds
followed with a falling layup in the paint and tied the game at 18 with 6:27 on
the clock.
After
the Razorbacks netted another bucket, the Gators marched off another 8-0 run
with treys from Needles and Miller sandwiched between two free throws from
Bonds and Florida took a 26-20 advantage with 3:28 remaining in the period.
Quistelle
Williams ended Florida’s run with a three-pointer and sparked a 13-2 run to end
the half, as the Razorbacks enjoyed the 33-30 halftime lead after their flurry
finish.
Miller
scored 12 points to lead all scorers in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 3-of-4
three-pointers, leading UF’s long-ranked attack that went 5-of-10 from beyond
the arc. The Gators shot 34.6 percent overall from the floor, while Arkansas
converted 46.4 percent (13-28), including a 4-of-7 three-point effort.
The
Gators next play top-seeded and ninth-ranked Tennessee (23-6) on Friday at 12
Noon, ET. The game will be televised live on SportSouth, FS Southwest and Sun
Sports (in Gainesville on Cox ch. 48).
Florida
lost to Tennessee, 78-75 in overtime during the January 13 regular-season
meeting in Gainesville. The Gators are 3-45 all-time against the Lady Vols,
including an 0-8 record in SEC Tournament games.
