Florida’s 3-point explosion buries Clemson in WNIT

CLEMSON, SC – The Gators continued their impressive run on Thursday afternoon, taking out Clemson in South Carolina, 73-63, to punch their ticket to the Great Eight of the Women’s NIT.

Florida (19-14) lit up from behind the three-point line, connecting on 13-of-30 (43.3%) which tied for the third best performance by a Florida team in program history.

KK Deans led the way offensively with 19 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals while hitting a team-high four triples. Deans was just one of five Gators to score in double figures, joined by Leilani Correa (11), Alberte Rimdal (11), Faith Dut (10) and Nina Rickards (10).

For the game, Florida shot 26-of-58 (44.8%) from the field while holding Clemson (19-16) to 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the floor and just 3-of-16 (18 , 8%). from long range.

The Orange & Blue shared the ball well, dishing out 21 assists, with five each from Merritt and Rimdal.

The Gators were in charge of the board again, beating the Tigers 42-32, led by 11 from Jordyn Merritt. Deans grabbed seven and Dut dropped six, helping Florida hold a 12-10 advantage at the point of the second.

Defensively, Florida forced 14 turnovers that resulted in eight steals, four of which came from Deans, in addition to four blocks, with three coming from Correa.

Clemson finished with an advantage at the charity stripe, hitting 18-of-25 (72%) compared to UF’s 8-of-10 (80%). After the game-opening stop on the defensive end, the Gators were able to quickly on the offensive end.

With the Tigers showing the zone, Deans started a three-for-three game from deep, quickly pushing Florida’s lead to 9-2. Clemson responded with four straight to pull within three, but a jumper from Rimdal and a triple from Correa made it 14-6 with 5:57 on the clock.

Deans continued to show a strong attack with five more points to collect 14 of Florida’s 19 points in the first quarter, but the Tigers closed on a 10-2 run to pull within one, 19-18, at the end of the first.

The Gators and Tigers went bucket-for-bucket for the first three minutes of the second until the home team took its first lead of the game at 6:53 on a quick layup, 27-26. Clemson was able to push the lead to three, but Rimdal was able to find Correa with an open triple down the right wing to tie the game at 29 with 4:56 left in the half.

Correa hit his second triple of the game at 3:25 to push the Orange & Blue’s lead to three and help secure the lead for the Gators, 36-35.

The Gators benefited from eight first-half triples, finishing 8-of-17 (47.1%) while holding the Tigers to just 2-of-7 (28.6%). Florida came out of the locker room with a purpose, opening with a 7-2 run capped by a Rickards layup with 7:50 on the clock, forcing a Clemson timeout while leading 43-37. Just two minutes later, the Gators took the biggest lead of the game to the point, 48-39, after Dut drained a three from the right wing.

Taliyah Wyche got in on the action with 5:40 showing in the quarter, converting a layup to extend Florida’s lead to 50-39. The offensive onslaught continued in the final five minutes, as the Gators outscored Clemson 22-10 in the third quarter to take a 58-45 lead into the final 10 minutes.

An impressive third quarter performance would give the Gators all the momentum they needed, not letting the Tigers back within nine while leading by as many as 18 en route to a 73-63 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.

quotes

Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley

Advance to the quarter finals of the WNIT… “I think it’s good, you know our team is really coming together. He was able to make a lot of choices this season and he chose to elevate our program. I think, as a coach, you can’t ask for anything more than that. I very proud of them.”

What do you use for the Gators… “We’ve worked hard to share the ball. You know, 22 turnovers is too much for us, and a lot of them came at the end of the game. We came out of the break. We took care of the ball better. The last situation of the game we just have to execute and see what opens up more good. One of our goals is to improve on both ends of the floor with rebounding. I think we did that. To get the three points, we worked hard to hit the open players at the right time, make extra passes every time, and then move to that extra pass to take that uncontested shot. it paid off for us tonight.” Notables – Florida pulled within one, 3-2, of the all-time series against Clemson.

Noted

• -The Gators are now 18-8 in the WNIT, including an 11-6 mark on the road all-time.
• Florida improved to 2-2 in the Super Sixteen of the WNIT.
• The Orange & Blue will be making their third appearance in the WNIT quarterfinals.
• Florida is perfect 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the WNIT, which comes up next.
• It will mark Florida’s first Big Eight appearance since 2013 when it defeated James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., 85-80.
• With four made threes, KK Deans moved into eighth all-time for threes made in a season, boasting 74.
• Florida tied for the most triples made in a game in program history with 13.

Until Next Time

The Gators will once again hit the road for a matchup with Bowling Green in Ohio in a WNIT quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, March 27 at 6 pm ET.