As Sha Brooks goes, so go No. 9 Gators

It’s never easy to explain why a team is having a great season probably because that team is doing many things well. A great basketball team usually plays lockdown defense, doesn’t turn the ball over and gets some kind of production from its post players. Certainly Amanda Butler’s team does all three, but more often than not, their success is determined by how well Sha Brooks plays.

That was certainly the case Sunday as the No. 11 Gators (22-2, 8-1 SEC) beat No. 12 Tennessee 66-57. Brooks scored a team-high 29 points – her second straight 29-point game – and carried her team back from being down by as many as seven points. The conference honored Brooks for the third time this season with its player of the week honor.

“I don’t think she likes me very much,” Tennessee coach Pat Summit said. “It’s amazing because of her toughness how she comes at you. Obviously she plays both ends of the floor, plays with great passion, makes big plays and takes care of the basketball.

“I think that she without a doubt has the biggest influence on how Florida plays the game. We don’t have a player who is going to come out there and just demand that everybody step up their level of play.”

If there is anyone who is familiar with Brooks, it is Summit, who has seen her score at will in matchups against the Volunteers. Last year Brooks, who hails from Jackson, Tenn., tallied 27 points on the road against the Vols. And, three years ago, she scored 25 points as a freshman to lead the Gators to an overtime upset and their first ever victory in Knoxville.

Sunday’s big performance didn’t come easy for Brooks as she struggled in the first half, shooting 30 percent from the field and only four of eight at the free-throw line. A lot of her misses came on easy shots in the lane.

“I did get frustrated early,” Brooks said. “I was penetrating to the basket and I missed a lot of layups and I missed a lot of free throws. I tried not to let my confidence get down and I just kept at it and kept at it.”

The persistence paid off as Brooks rattled off 19 points in the second half. Perhaps none were bigger than the 3-pointers she drained to bring the Gators back into the game. With 7:05 left in the second half, Brooks came off a screen set by teammate Marshae Dotson at the top of the key and sank what would be the first of three treys and brought the score to 50-46. She maintained her hot hand, adding nine more points in Florida’s 12-0 run that gave the Gators a 55-52 lead with 3:19 to go.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to beat every other team,” Brooks said. “I just really, really want to beat Tennessee.”

The Gators have won seven straight games against SEC opponents, a school record, and are off to the best start in school history, winning 22 of their 24 games. The Sunday victory propelled Amanda Butler’s team into the Top 10 of the Associated Press media poll. The Gators will take their No. 9 ranking. The last time Florida was ranked in the AP Top 10 was Feb. 12, 2001.

Brooks returns to her home state to play No. 24 Vanderbilt in the Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.