Gator Country

Florida sophomore guard Jordan Jones gets fouled by Mississippi State senior forward Alexis Rack with 2.7 remaining, allowing her to make a game-winning free throw, during the Gators' 80-78 double-overtime win against the Lady Bulldogs on Sunday at the O'Connell Center. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

It was the scenario every athlete dreams of: two seconds left in the second overtime and a chance to win at the foul line. Jordan Jones stepped to the foul line knowing what she had to do. Beat the pressure. Beat the clock. Beat the other team.

Jones beat the pressure with the first shot, a crisp swish. Then came the second, another swish for the 80-78 lead. The only thing missing was Steffi Sorenson intercepting Mississippi State’s length of the court pass to seal the win for Florida (13-10, 6-4 SEC) before a crowd of 1,382 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Sunday afternoon.

For Jones, it was a chance for redemption at the foul line. She had an uncharacteristic 1-4 performance in Florida’s loss to Vanderbilt just Thursday night and that resulted in Coach Amanda Butler calling her out.  Helping her re-focus was teammate Azania Stewart, who has been money from the foul line in the closing minutes recently.

“Azania Stewart told me that, every time she goes up to the line, she thinks, ‘Why would they foul me? I’m about to knock these free throws down,’” Jones said after the game. “I stepped up, and I had her in the back of my mind. I knew they were going in as soon as they left my hand.”

Jones wasn’t the only hero in the double overtime thriller. Her two free throws would have never been possible without Sorensen (12 points, 11 rebounds) coming through with a hustle play 17 second earlier. Sorenson threw herself into the fray underneath the basket after a missed shot and got enough of the ball to get a jump ball call. With the possession arrow pointing Florida’s way, the Gators got one last possession and that gave Jones (21 points, 11-11 from the foul line) her chance to win the game with her free throws.

And Sorensen’s heroics wouldn’t have been possible without Lonnika Thompson coming to life and putting on a one-woman show in the first overtime.

Coming off of her worst performance of the season against Vanderbilt --- no points and five turnovers --- Thompson was scoreless in regulation but something snapped before the first overtime.

“I wasn’t playing like myself,” Thompson said. “Coach got on me every time I was coming out of the game. Almost every possession, she was yelling at me, hitting the board, and she kept saying ‘toughness.’ The fans we had were just tremendous out there, and they keep us going. Everyone was just telling me, Stay in it L.T. That’s what I did.”

Thompson responded by scoring all nine of Florida’s first overtime points to send the game into a second extra period tied, 71-71. Thompson wasn’t finished, however. She got the scoring going in the second overtime and finished the game with 11 very tough, hard-earned points.

“We were talking about that when we were coming down the hall, because I was trying to remember what I said to her,” Butler said after the game. “Did I say some magic words or something? [Thompson] said, ‘No, you sat me down for 12 minutes.’ The bottom line is, You can sit on the bench and pout, or you can go out there and respond when your number is called. I think that’s what she did.”

Mississippi State (15-9, 6-5 SEC) started strong, taking a 15-9 lead out of the blocks to start the game, but the Gators battled back with a 9-0 run and ended the half with a driving layup by Trumae Lucas with one second left to take a 34-33 advantage at the break.

The Bulldogs scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 40-34 lead. It wasn’t until Jones hit a jump shot with 15:29 left that the Gators got on the second half scoreboard. Led by Chanel Mokango, Mississippi State applied the pressure and grabbed a 12-point lead (52-40) with 8:40 remaining.

That set the stage for one of the biggest turnarounds of the season for the Gators, who went on an 18-6 run, tying the game at 58-58 on two free throws by Jones with 2:25 remaining to be played.  Mokango got the lead by for Mississippi State with a jumper in the lane with 2:09 left but the Gators scored the next four points, taking the lead at 62-60 with 1:18 remaining when Stewart sneaked inside for an easy layup.

The Gators got a stop on the Bulldogs’ next possession but they couldn’t control the offensive rebound. Given the extra possession, the Bulldogs got the ball to Mokango in the paint for an eight-foot jumper that tied the game at 62-62 with 44 seconds to go. The Bulldogs actually got the last shot at winning the game when Florida turned the ball over with 33 seconds left but Armelie Lumanu missed what would have been a game-winning three-pointer, sending the game into overtime.

The first overtime was the Lonika Thompson show, but the second overtime belonged to Jones, who knocked down a three-pointer as well as four straight free throws. The way Jones calmly dropped in free throws at the end of regulation, Butler wasn’t worried if the free throws were going in during the second overtime.

“I had no question that they were going in,” Butler said. “Just like she said, she had been hitting them all game. I said to the crowd after the game, there was a different look in Jordan’s eye, and it was confidence. Every time she shot, I felt like it was going in. The free throws were no different.”

Jones finished the game with 17 points, all of them off the bench. This was the first SEC game that Jones didn’t start but given the way she played Sunday, she may never start again.

FLORIDA 80, MISSISSIPPI STATE 78, 2OT
At Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.

FLORIDA (80) – Lonnika Thompson 4-10 2-2 11, Steffi Sorensen 4-9 0-2 12, Sharielle Smith 3-10 3-4 10, Jennifer Mossor 2-9 0-0 5, Jennifer George 1-2 1-2 3, Trumae Lucas 3-8 0-0 6, Azania Stewart 3-5 1-4 7, Tessah Holt 0-1 2-2 2, Ndidi Madu 1-3 1-2 3, Jordan Jones 4-9 11-11 21. Totals 25-66 21-29 80.
Field-goal shooting: 25 of 66 for 37.9 percent. 3-point shooting: 9 of 21 for 42.9 percent (Sorensen 4-7, Jones 2-4, Mossor 1-2, Thompson 1-2, Smith 1-5, Holt 0-1). Free-throw shooting: 21 of 29 for 72.4 percent. Points off turnovers: 15. Second-chance points: 22. Fastbreak points: 2. Points in the paint: 22. Rebounds: 54 (Smith 13, Sorensen 11, Stewart 6). Assists: 17 (Sorensen 4, Thompson 3, Jones 3). Blocked shots: 2 (George 2). Steals: 9 (Sorensen 3). Turnovers: 23 (Thompson 5, George 4). Total fouls (fouled out): 18 (none).
Halftime: Florida 34, Mississippi State 33. Regulation: Florida 62, Mississippi State 62. First overtime: Florida 71, Mississippi State 71. Officials: Felicia Grinter, Lawson Newton, Scott Yarbrough. Attendance: 1,382. Records: Mississippi State 15-9, 6-5 SEC; Florida 13-10, 6-4 SEC.

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
For the latest standings, click below:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/conferences/standings?year=2010&confId=23

Sunday, Feb. 7
Florida 80, Mississippi State 78, 2OT
Mississippi 102, No. 21 Louisiana State 101, 3OT
South Carolina 52, No. 14 Georgia 42
No. 18 Kentucky 71, Arkansas 57
Alabama 55, Auburn 53

Monday, Feb. 8
No. 5 Tennessee at No. 22 Vanderbilt, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)

Thursday, Feb. 11
Louisiana State at Florida, 7 p.m.
Arkansas at Auburn, 7 p.m.
Georgia at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (FSN)
Mississippi State at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Tennessee at Mississippi, 8 p.m. (CSS)

Sunday, Feb. 14
Florida at Tennessee, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
Alabama at Georgia, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Arkansas at South Carolina, 3 p.m. (ESPN2)
Louisiana State at Auburn, 4 p.m. (FSN)
Mississippi at Mississippi State, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)

Thursday, Feb. 18
Florida at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Mississippi at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Louisiana State, 8 p.m. (FSN)
Tennessee at Alabama, 9 p.m. (CSS)

Sunday, Feb. 21
Georgia at Florida, 1 p.m.
South Carolina at Kentucky, 2 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Mississippi, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
Alabama at Arkansas, 3 p.m.
Auburn at Mississippi State, 3 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 22
Louisiana State at Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Wednesday, Feb. 24
Florida at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. (CSS)

Thursday, Feb. 25
Georgia at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Kentucky at Tennessee, 7 p.m. (FSN)
Mississippi State at Alabama, 7 p.m.
Auburn at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
Arkansas at Louisiana State, 9 p.m. (CSS)

Sunday, Feb. 28
Alabama at Florida, 3 p.m. (CSS)
South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 1 p.m. (FSN)
Arkansas at Georgia, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
Kentucky at Auburn, 3 p.m.
Mississippi State at Louisiana State, 3 p.m.
Mississippi at Tennessee, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)

SEC WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
The Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Ga.
Thursday, March 4
Game 1: Seed No. 9 vs. Seed No. 8, 12 p.m. (FSS)
Game 2: Seed No. 10 vs. Seed No. 7, 2:30 p.m. (FSS)
Game 3: Seed No. 12 vs. Seed No. 5, 6:30 p.m. (FSS)
Game 4: Seed No. 11 vs. Seed No. 6, 9 p.m. (FSS)
Friday, March 5
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Seed No. 1, 12 p.m. (FSS)
Game 6: Game 2 winner vs. Seed No. 2, 2:30 p.m. (FSS)
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Seed No. 4, 6:30 p.m. (FSS)
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. Seed No. 3, 9 p.m. (FSS)
Saturday, March 6
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 10: Game 8 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday, March 7
Game 11: Championship, Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

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