I never follow the girls that much but after what they have been through I hope they have a great year.
I was not happy with the turnovers nor officiating in this game. Refs really were calling touch fouls on our girls to try and almost even out the fouls called on both sides. We got lax on defense starting mid 3rd quarter, When Wyche is in with Jordyn we can have 5 special athletes on the floor at the same time. But Floor and Faith still a step slow on that end still. I hope Faith is alright, but it did not look very good. She was having a heck of an offensive game. Still need FT work, but Jordyn got her groove there to finish the game I dont like Olivera in the starting lineup, she kind of slows us down, her and Moore to me should be coming off the bench to provide stability to that group. We have a chance to be really good, but we need to get our defense together and get those long passes in check
A few thoughts... The Good: The top 4 scorers were returners from last year, and in the exhibition the top 4 were not here last season. We have some promising depth and don't have to rely on 1 or 2 players all the time. Love the pressure defense, and it should only get better! Faith Dut looked very impressive while out there. She has a nice stroke away from the basket. She seems much improved and along with Taliyah we may have some quality depth in the post. Hopefully her injury isn't anything serious or nagging. She was back out on the bench the last quarter. Rimdal really sees the court well and has a high basketball IQ. Love that we push the ball up the court in a hurry and get some easy baskets in transition. The Bad: Too many turnovers and sloppy play. Some of this may have been the nature of this game. Lots and lots of fouls and turnovers both ways. It got very chippy, and some tempers flared. We need to work on some composure in games like this. Free throw shooting was completely unacceptable. It simply has to improve. This needs to become an immediate priority because it will cost us a game down the road. Alberte had some great reads and assists out there, BUT she was a little hesitant to shoot several times. I love the passing, but she is an elite scorer and she needs to be confident to take the shots when she has them. Hope Kelly finds a little more fire at times. The girls do seem to love her and enjoy the team, but when it was getting really chippy I would have liked to seen her get a bit more animated both at the refs and the girls. If the girls aren't composed she needs to get them that way. All in all this was a decent, if not great start. This shouldn't have been close at all. Missed free throws, turnovers, fouls, composure, etc. We got some things to work on, but that's good because these are fixable issues and part of it was probably a bit of first game jitters. The talent level and depth is definitely improved. We definitely have some real potential. Put it all together and we could have a nice season in store.
As much as I hate to say it we have about 4 players that I feel really slow us down. I think we saw that in the minutes tonight. We have about 8 players I feel very confident in when they are out there.
My take away We now have a team with real depth that can play Faith has been working on her game and it shows, a big plus when we hit the SEC Manu & Kristina give us some size and savvy & toughness off the bench Defense is much improved overall a good game 2 with plenty of coachable points for Kelly Rae and her crew to work on
Game Recap: Women's Basketball | Tuesday, November 9, 2021 | Andrew Hile Strong Second Quarter Pushes Gators Past Panthers GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Veteran point guard Kiara Smith dropped 23 points on Tuesday evening to help Florida women's basketball to a season-opening victory over Sun Belt-foe, Georgia State, 84-70. Smith was one of four Gators (1-0, 0-0 SEC) to finish in double-digit scoring as LaVender Briggs (16), Jordyn Merritt (15) and Nina Rickards (11) all contributed at least 10 points. For the game, Florida finished a steady 29-of-58 (50%) from the floor. The Gators controlled the rebounding battle for the second time in as many games, outrebounding GSU 44-29. Briggs led the way with seven rebounds while Smith and Merritt each added six of their own. Offensively on the interior, Florida ended with a 42-34 advantage in points in the paint. The Panthers (0-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) pushed the Blue and Orange early, jumping out to a 6-3 lead and holding the Gators to just 1-of-8 shooting from behind the arc, eventually leading the home squad, 14-12, at the end of one. After the Georgia State lead was extended to 16-13 early in the second frame, the Gators locked-in to take control of the game. A 17-2 run, spurred by seven points from Briggs and six from Merritt, opened the game up at 30-18. Defensively, UF forced seven second quarter turnovers in addition to six steals of their own, while recording just three turnovers themselves. For the game, Florida tallied 12 steals while forcing 20 turnovers. Georgia State would not go away in the second half, answering every Florida run that was thrown at them. After trailing 62-47 at the end of the third, the opposition started the fourth on a 5-0 run to pull within 10 points. Smith put an end to the run, slicing through the lane for a contested layup, ensuring that was the closest the Panthers would get. Smith's layup would spark a 12-2 run, pushing the Gator lead to 20 with 5:09 remaining before holding on for an 84-70 victory. A key to the second half success came from the bench contribution for the Gators. Recording just three points in the first half, the Florida bench ended the game with 25 points, led by nine from Faith Dut who was an efficient 4-of-6 from the floor. Florida will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 12, when they head to Raleigh, N.C., for the Preseason WNIT to take on Towson at 4:30 p.m. ET. Postgame Bites - The UF-GSU series is now tied at five with Florida winning the previous three matchups. - The Gators are 8-2 in their last 10 season-openers, including three-consecutive season-opening victories. - Smith's 23 points mark her best season-opening offensive debut and second-straight season-opener with at least 20. - Smith's and Briggs' 39 points is the most by a Florida duo in a season-opener since Jennifer George and Jordan Jones combined for 38 on Nov. 11, 2009 against Stetson – a game in which Florida won 85-63. - Briggs now holds 802 points, just 198 away from being the 27th-member of the 1000-point club. - Smith owns 1,092 career points, just six away from moving into 23rd all-time in school history. Quoteables Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley On defensive play and offensive transition… "That's awesome. That's something we've been working on all week, and we had worked hard before our exhibition on transitioning through the center of the floor and flowing into our zone offense. This week gave us the opportunity to transition through the center of the floor and go into our man offense. So, we threw the ball around a little bit more than we would have liked, but I was really pleased with our overall effort on both sides of the court today." On overall effort… "Again, that's something that we've worked really hard on, is consistency. I think if you ask any of the women on our team, they would tell you we are working on our consistency. That goes from day-in to day-out, to offense to defense, both ends of the floor. We had some lapses today, but that's why it's early in the season, and again, very pleased with our first game of the year." On the rebounding effort… "We had 14 offensive rebounds. Again, playing through every possession. That's something that we do in practice every single day. Jordan is an elite rebounder, she's an elite offensive rebounder and that's something that we expect from her every night." Graduate Guard Kiara Smith On how the defense has grown… "Our defense has grown tremendously, that's one thing that Coach Kelly stresses in practice every single day, just to defend to the best of our abilities. I think that once we locked in to that, it really showed on the court and we really made it a priority to defend as hard as we could." the rest at: Strong Second Quarter Pushes Gators Past Panthers - Florida Gators
Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 11/9/2021 7:46:00 PM Foster Posts Career-Highs in Loss at Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Georgia State fell 84-70 Tuesday night at Florida in the season opener. Ashley Foster posted career-highs in both points (19) and rebounds (6). She went 6-of-13 from the field and 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Both were team-highs as well. Georgia State led Florida by two at the end of the first period after forcing nine turnovers and holding the Gators to 12 points. Florida heated up in the second quarter, racing to a 17-point lead before the Panthers closed the first half on a 7-0 run to trail 37-27 at halftime. Florida extended its lead early in the second half but a 3-pointer by Jenae Dublin and steal and fastbreak by Foster trimmed the Florida lead back down to 10 midway through the third quarter. Foster set her new career high of 19 points with an open 3-pointer with 4:54 to play in the game to make it 74-57. Georgia State cut the lead back to 10 in the fourth quarter but Florida held on to win 84-70. GSU's pair of Sunshine State freshmen, Nyla Jean and Mikyla Tolivert, each recorded their first collegiate baskets in their home state. Jean finished with 10 points while Tolivert tallied six. Fellow freshman Alyssa Phillip scored six points in her GSU debut. Foster Posts Career-Highs in Loss at Florida - Georgia State University
