UF overcomes Bama’s three-point barrage on Senior Day

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – There was no shortage of offense between Florida and Alabama women’s basketball on senior day, with the Gators surviving a second-half three-point barrage by the Crimson Tide for an 81-77 victory inside Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. on Thursday.

KK Deans put together one of his best performances of the season on senior night, with 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-5 efforts from three-point range and 8-of-8 at the charity stripe, in addition to three rebounds again, three steals and two assists. Ra Shaya Kyle (14), Leilani Correa (12) and Nina Rickards (11) all finished in double figures for the Gators (15-13, 4-11 SEC).

As a team, Florida shot 24-of-58 (41.4%) from the field and 7-of-15 (46.7%) from long range, while Alabama (20-8, 9-6 SEC) shot 25-of -47. (53.2%) from the floor and 12-of-18 (66.7%) from three-point range. In the second half alone, the Crimson Tide went 10-of-12 from behind the arc. Brittany Davis led the opposition with 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Gators didn’t make life easy for Alabama, forcing the visitors into 20 turnovers that resulted in nine steals for the Orange & Blue. Deans and Jeriah Warren each swiped three to lead UF, which finished with 19 points off turnovers.

Florida also managed to control the glass on Saturday afternoon, taking a 35-30 edge over the Crimson Tide that included 16 offensive rebounds while limiting the enemy to just six, which resulted in an 18-3 difference in points in the paint. Kyle led the way with seven rebounds, while Rickards pulled down five of his own.

The bench was also instrumental in the senior night victory, outscoring Alabama 31-12 in 40 minutes.

Both teams had no trouble finding an offensive rhythm to start the game, with Florida connecting on 4-of-5 from the floor and Alabama starting 2-of-3, including a 4-for-4 effort from the charity stripe. , in the opening four minutes. Heading into the media timeout, the team found itself knotted at 12, aided by a pair of triples from Correa and Deans.

The Gators made the most of the media break in the opening frame, closing the quarter on a 12-1 run to take a 24-13 lead into the second. Florida’s defense allowed just eight shots from the Crimson Tide while forcing five turnovers in the first 10 minutes.

The offense continued to roll for the Orange & Blue into the second quarter using a 7-0 run, capped off by a baseline jumper from Alberte Rimdal with 7:11 remaining, to force an Alabama timeout and extend the lead to 33-17. An efficient first half that saw the Gators stop shooting 17-of-32 (53.1%) giving UF a 45-30 lead going into halftime.

A key component for Orange & Blue’s success in the first half, the Gators connected on 4-of-6 from deep, including a perfect 3-of-3 effort for Deans who led all scorers with 13 points. Florida also made the Crimson Tide uncomfortable, forcing 11 turnovers that resulted in 10 points.

The Crimson Tide quickly closed the gap to start the second half, using three straight triples, which resulted in a 9-2 run, to make it an eight-point game with 7:43 on the clock. After fending off Alabama’s first offense, the Crimson Tide again pushed the Gators with another run, this time 7-0, to make it 54-50 with 49 seconds left in the third. A crucial triple as the clock expired from Rimdal helped Florida seize a seven-point advantage, 59-52, leading to the last quarter of the action.

Neither team could get a leg up in the first five minutes of the final frame, battling to a 12-12 stalemate, giving Florida a 71-64 advantage with 5:07 left in the game. A free throw from Kyle with in the fourth still pushed Florida’s lead to nine, but an 11-2 response from the opposition saw the game tied at 75 with only 2:26 showing on the clock.

Leading by just one point with 2:08 left, Nina Rickards helped UF put the nail in the coffin by escaping on an inbounds play for an open layup to push Florida’s lead to three late in the game. Kyle then, with ice in his veins, knocked down two free throws with 28 seconds left to make it a three-point game with 21 seconds left before the Gators escaped with an 81-77 victory.

Until Next Time

The Gators will conclude the regular season on Saturday, February 26, when they travel to Columbia, Mo., for a 3 pm ET matchup with the Tigers on SEC Network+.

Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley

The importance of a quick start…
“It’s very important. He leads the league in three-point shooting percentage and 12th in the country. He shoots lights out of the ball in the third and fourth quarters. Eighty percent and 85.7% in the second half, which is crazy, but we they are determined. We focus a lot on having our hands up and our feet active and really just believe that we are fast enough to be in two places almost at the same time. When we start to trust each other and trust our running speed. , we are a very good defensive team.”

What does KK Deans bring to the team…
“He brings a lot of things, just in terms of who he is. He’s a fighter and I’ll tell you a little bit. When we recruited KK, it was very important to me that we were honest with him. That’s really important to me. He knows that he can fills a hole that needs to be filled on the roster, but if it’s not a good time for him to come back from his ACL, he won’t be playing at the beginning of the year. really important, and I’m a mom and I see eye to eye on that. KK is like ‘nah, I hear you but whatever.’ He’s been playing since the beginning of the season. Now, he missed the offseason, so I think you can see him start to see the game a little bit slower, you know. Our system is a little different, how we do it. It’s just a little different here, and maybe it’s different in a way. that’s great.”

What Nina and Faith mean to the program…
“Nina and Iman have obviously become more for this program. They could have made many different choices at any time probably to choose themselves through this program, and once they did that, and I admire them. I am proud of them- I’m proud of who he is, what he brings, and what he’s done. He’s definitely made this program better. We talked a little bit before the game, coach CJ always said there’s a level and we’ve talked about we have to level up. When I see both of them, they have helped this program up in many ways.

Senior Guard KK Dean

In Thursday’s performance…
This was a great team win with a great team effort and great team defense. That’s what Gators basketball is all about. Haven’t seen it in a while, but game-after-game it’s getting better and better. Once we hit South Carolina for the next game, we were locked-in. If we lock up for the rest of the season, good things happen.

How did he see the floor…
“My team made good screens, had open back doors and I just took what the defense gave me. game.”

In his favorite memory at the O’Dome…
“Honestly our doubleheader at the beginning of the year. The crowd was just great energy. I thought they played after us, but in the third and fourth quarter everyone got involved and we had this kind of energy that made me go back. And it was like, ‘wow, okay. This is what Gator Nation will bring.’ That’s probably my favorite moment, but when we play well, they’re all good moments.

Noted

• Florida draws within two in the all-time series, 33-31, but now holds a 17-9 advantage over Alabama in Gainesville.
• There victory ensured a winning streak in the regular season for Florida.
• The win marked the first time the Gators have claimed a regular season win since the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
• With 36 wins, Florida has its largest two-season win total since the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
• Nina Rickards continues to close in on 1,000 career points, currently holding 962.
• KK Deans hit four triples, pushing him to 13th in the Florida record book for most triples in a single season with 64.
• With 45 points in the first half, Florida recorded its best offensive outing of the season in the opening 20 minutes.
• Deans had one of his career best free throws, finishing a perfect 8-for-8.
• Jeriah Warren matched his career-best effort with three steals.