Gators WBK Hosts USC UpState Monday 6:00 pmLAST TIME OUT For the second time in as many outings, Florida put down the defensive clamps, this time earning a 70-55 victory over Grambling State. Grambling was held to just 25% from deep, while offensively Brynn Farrell had a career-night to lead the way with 17 points. Emanuely de Oliveira also recorded a career-best 14 points while Lavender Briggs contributed 14 of her own as well. PERFEC Monday's MatchUP November 22, 2021 | 6:00 p.m. ET USC Upstate (2-1; 0-0 Big South) at Florida (3-2; 0-0 SEC) Exactech Arena | Gainesville, Fla. TV: SEC Network+ | Via WatchESPN.com or the ESPN App PERFECTION Farrell’s 5-for-5 performance from the field against Grambling State was not an easy feat to accomplish, as the last player to have a perfect game from the floor for the Gators (min. five attempts) was Ronni Williams against Longwood on November 17, 2014 when she was a perfect 8-of-8. THIRD QUARTER LOCKDOWN Florida women’s basketball has been dominant defensively in the third quarter this season, holding teams to a combined 25-of-85 (29.4%) shooting from the field and 7-of-18 (38.8%) from deep. Take away a stellar shooting performance from Towson and Florida is holding opponents to just 4-of-13 (30.7%) from three-point land in the third period. COUNTDOWN TO 1000 Junior standout Lavender Briggs is closing in on 1,000 career points in her Florida career. The Provo, Utah native is currently sitting at 844 points, just 156 points away from becoming the 27th member of the club. CLIMBING THE LADDER Smith’s continues to inch up the list in Florida’s 1,000-point club now boasting 1,133 points. She currently sits in 23rd, after passing Janna Bragg (1984-88) behind eight points against Towson. With nine assists in Friday’s game against Grambling State, Smith also now boasts 319 career assists, the 12th-best number in Gators history. PRESEASON WNIT ALL-TOURNEY Kiara Smith was named to the Preseason WNIT All-Tournament Team for her performances in North Carolina. Smith led the Gators in points per game (12.3), assists per game (1.75) and steals per game (1.75). In Monday’s victory over Wofford, the senior posted 13 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two assists. The District Heights, Md., native also moved up to 23rd all-time in points scored at Florida after recording eight points against Towson. She passed Janna Bragg who finished her career with 1,092 points. Series History Monday's game is the first meeting between USC Upstate and Florida on the hardwood. Last Time Out November 19, 2021: USC Upstate 81, Columbia International 40 November 19, 2021: Florida 70, Grambling State 55 Players to Watch Upstate: Earning her first career start Friday night versus Columbia International, freshman guard Terah Harness made the most of her opportunity, leading the Spartans in scoring behind a career-best 17 points. She finished 7-of-15 from the floor against the Rams, including a team-high three makes from behind the arc. The game marked her second consecutive double-figure scoring game after dropping 11 points against South Carolina State. Florida: Forward Lavender Briggs entered the 2021-22 season on the verge of closing in on the Gators' 1,000-Point Club as she enters Monday's contest with 844 career points. She's scored in double-figures in all three of Florida's wins this season and owns the fourth-highest scoring game (41 points vs. No. 17 Arkansas on Jan. 14, 2021) in program history. UP Next for the Spartans After the quick road trip to Gainesville, Fla., Upstate returns to the Hodge on November 28 for an afternoon tip-off versus Mars Hill. The Spartans and Lions tip-off at 2:00 p.m. ET from the G.B. Hodge Center.
We haven't been ready a single game yet, sadly. We don't look prepared or even interested. I still wonder about the dynamics of everything that went down and if some of the girls were split on the whole situation. We won't ever get the full story but Merritt had a tweet about the University not caring about WBB. Sadly I agree. That's why Striklin went with Kelly instead of at least trying for a coach. As a person and even assistant she is fine, but we basically handed this season to someone who has never done the job. Talent and depth is better, but we are not as good as last year. Hopefully they find some sort of miracle switch and turn it on. Odds are against Kelly now. Have to assume we have a different staff next year. I just wish we would have ripped the band aid off this year and got it over with instead of wasting a season. I don't trust the administration to spend enough to get the right person here though.
I have no idea if Kelly Rae is going to get the job at the end of this season but it is clear to me that the influx of talent is making a difference in how the kids play, do they start slow, clearly they do do they have talent and depth yes they do and they play hard, once they got to the third quarter they took a 2 point lead to 16 and in the 4th extended to 22, that tells me they listened at halftime and used what they heard, are they going to challenge the top of the SEC teams not this year but the post play with the twins and Faith is miles better than it has been the last few seasons, I loved Zada but the posts we have now are able to make a difference Zada just couldn't. They all still make mistakes to me that is what the preconference is about, I for one won't give up on the Gator players or the coaches, was hoping for an update on Kristina but did not hear anything
Moore was in a walking boot so I assume she has a high ankle sprain and those take time to heal. Defense is much better but I am still waiting to seen any pattern to our offence.
Gators Defeat Spartans Behind Second Half Outburst Recap Box Score Florida used hot shooting in the third quarter to open-up Monday's game against USC Upstate. GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida women's basketball used a third-quarter offensive outburst to down USC Upstate, 76-54, on Friday evening in Exactech Arena. Lavender Briggs had one of her best games of the year to lead the Gators (4-2, 0-0 SEC), scoring 16 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Alberte Rimdal and Emanuely de Oliveira also crossed the double-digit threshold with 11 and 10 points, respectively. De Oliveira led the Florida rebounding effort, pulling down six while Nina Rickards and Briggs each added five. Florida's effort on the glass led to a 35-28 advantage, including a 15-6 lead in second chance points. Defensively, the Spartans (2-2, 0-0 Big South) were uncomfortable with the Gators' pressure, turning the ball over 23 times, leading to 14 steals for the home squad. Led by a season-high five steals from Zippy Broughton, the Orange & Blue ended the game with a 32-4 advantage in points off of turnovers. Despite the final score, USC Upstate pushed the Gators during the first half, trailing just 28-26 at halftime. That changed quickly. The Gators opened the third quarter on a 13-0 run to quickly extend their lead to 41-26. Offensively, Florida finished a blistering 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the field and 2-of-2 from deep for the quarter. The Gators were just as strong defensively, recording six steals on seven turnovers while holding the opposition to zero threes. USC Upstate ended the quarter 5-of-11 from the floor, but were outscored 26-12 during the third 10 minutes. Small spurts in the final frame helped Florida put the game away, including an 8-0 run by freshmen Alberte Rimdal and Jeriah Warren where Warren scored five of her seven points to give UF a 70-45 advantage with 4:26 remaining. While that is where the lead would peak, Florida continued to knock down their free throws late, ending a season-best 12-of-13 (92.3%) from the line, for the 76-54 win. Florida women's basketball will now turn their attention to the San Juan Shootout in San Juan, Puerto Rico where they will face-off with Saint Louis on Friday, Nov. 26 and George Washington on Saturday, Nov. 27. Quoteables Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley On halftime adjustments… "Our team has great ownership, right, and great team leadership from veterans. So, I wish that was something I could take credit for but I will not do that. When they put their minds together and they really focus, they know what adjustments need to be made and they know how to motivate each other and that's just what happened at half time." On Lavender Briggs' performance… "I felt like Lav is getting back to being closer and closer to herself, right. So, it's fun to see her perform at that level on the court, she's obviously an elite player who we rely a lot on and you know one of the things that she's grown the most is her leadership and communication on the court and I think that that was very apparent tonight as well as her play obviously." On Jeriah Warren's energy… "Yeah, Jeriah's long and athletic. I'm glad that you see the same things that we do. She's talented in so many ways, she can play multiple positions for us. Tonight, you saw her sometimes playing the four and in high school she found herself playing the one. So, over her years here you're going to see her versatility and you're right on with the energy that she brings to both ends of the floor, how active she is, just athletic and she does, she has a knack for the ball and you know she shoots the three. She's a three-level scorer and she's obviously disruptive on defense as well." Junior Guard Lavender Briggs On halftime adjustments… "I think we just realized who we are as a team. We hold ourselves to a very high standard and every time we step onto the court, we want to meet that standard and get better as a team, so we thought that we weren't playing to the best of our ability, and we all came together as a team and realized what we wanted to improve on, and we did that." On pulling away in the third quarter… " I think after we start playing and we can talk about what we need to improve on as a team then it helps us to calm down and we can really lock in and focus on what we need to be doing to play better as a team overall, which is we want to start out the game locked in and I think that is something we are working on and we strive to do every game but, recently we haven't been doing that. But that's what's making us pretty locked in in the third and fourth quarter." Gators Defeat Spartans Behind Second Half Outburst - Florida Gators
