Special report on the Florida Gators women’s basketball team:
BATON ROUGE, La. – Cassie Peoples scored a season and game-high 22 points and Florida defeated LSU, 82-56, in its final regular-season road game of the season played at the Maravich Assembly Center Thursday evening.
Florida, which won in Baton Rouge for just the fifth time in program history, swept the two-game season series against the Tigers.
The Gators also took the low-scoring affair against the Tigers, 53-45, on January 17 in Gainesville. The 53 points remains Florida’s fewest points scored this year in a game.
Thursday’s contest was a very different game offensively for Florida, which connected on 11 three-pointers, tied for the third-most in program history and the most since hitting 11 against North Florida on November 19, 2012 in Gainesville. The 11 treys are the most on the road since converting 10 at Ole Miss on January 31, 2010.
Ronni Williams scored 13 points with a team-high five rebounds, while Eleanna Christinaki contributed 12 points with four rebounds and three assists in the win.
Peoples logged her 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting overall that included a 4-of-6 effort from long range and 2-of-3 from the line. The Gator senior also dished a game-high five assists.
How It Happened
After the teams traded buckets to open the second half, Florida used a 13-3 run and extended its eight-point halftime lead to a 55-37 advantage with 6:21 remaining in the quarter.
Five different Gators scored during that spurt, paced by six points from Cassie Peoples.
The teams again traded baskets again, with Florida’s coming on a putback byJanuary Miller, who netted her 900th career point and the Gators led, 57-39.
For the next minute and half, Florida was whistled for three personal fouls and LSU took advantage by knocking down six free throws and cut the Gator lead to 12 points.
Florida regrouped with back-to-back threes with Peoples and Simone Westbrookhitting, followed by one free throw from Ronni Williams and the Gators assumed a 66-47 lead. LSU scored the final two buckets of the third and cut Florida’s lead to 15 points, 66-51, entering the final quarter.
Updated Records:
- Florida: 21-7, 9-6 SEC
- LSU: 9-19, 3-12 SEC
Scores of Other SEC Games on Thursday:
- GEORGIA (21-7, 9-6 SEC) def. Arkansas (11-17, 6-9 SEC), 72-57
- KENTUCKY (20-6, 9-6 SEC) def. Missouri (21-7, 8-7 SEC), 69-59
- Texas A&M (21-7, 11-4 SEC) def. AUBURN (18-10, 8-7 SEC), 57-49
- South Carolina (26-1, 14-0 SEC) def. OLE MISS (10-17, 2-12 SEC), 66-45
- ALABAMA (15-13, 4-11 SEC) def. Tennessee (16-12, 7-8 SEC), 54-46
- Mississippi State (23-6, 10-5 SEC) def. VANDERBILT (15-13, 4-11 SEC), 66-61
First Half at a Glance:
While Florida led for all but 48 seconds in the first half, when the game was tied, the game was tight throughout the opening frame. The Gator’s largest lead of eight points came with five seconds remaining when Cassie Peoples dropped in a six-foot floater, as she scored the final five points of the half and Florida took a 40-32 lead into the locker room.
LSU committed 12 turnovers and Florida converted those into 15 points.
The Gators also brought their long-ranged shooting game to the court, where they converted 6-of-15 with four different players hitting from deep, including Carlie Needles, whose second trey was the 200th of her career.
Numbers of Note:
- The Gators knocked down a season-high 11 three-pointers, tied for the third most in program history.
- Six different Gators hit from beyond the arc, with Cassie Peoples (4), Carlie Needles (2) and Eleanna Christinaki (2) netting multiple treys.
- Florida’s 82 points were the most scored against LSU this season.
- With her second three-pointer of the game (coming with 57 seconds remaining in the first quarter), Carlie Needles recorded the 200th trey of her career; fourth Gator to reach the milestone (Talatha Bingham, Brandi McCain and Sha Brooks)
- January Miller topped the 900-career point plateau with an offensive rebound put-back with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter.
- Alabama committed 30 turnovers that Florida converted into 35 points.
- LSU made just 1-of-12 shots in the fourth quarter, when Florida hit 7-of-14 and outscored the Tigers, 16-5.
- The Gators improved to 7-5 on true away courts this season, including 4-4 in SEC venues.
Quarterly Update:
- First Quarter: Florida 24, LSU 19
- Halftime: Florida 40, LSU 32
- End of Third Quarter: Florida 66, LSU 51
The UPDATED Series vs. LSU
- 40-Gane Series: UF trails 14-26
- UF in Baton Rouge: 5-13
- Prior to Thursday, five of the last six games in the series had been decided by single digits
- Florida’s last win against LSU in Baton Rouge prior to Thursday’s victory was back on Feb. 2, 2012 (73-64). That win was the Gator’s first in Baton Rouge since a 71-64 victory on Jan. 21, 1996.
Quotes from the Court – UF Head Coach Amanda Butler:
On Florida’s start to the game:
“I think our players were really ready to play. They played with a great deal of urgency from the beginning. We knew LSU was going to make it all the way down to the last round. Two heavyweights slugging it out. We had to try and capitalize on every opportunity. We really tried to set the tone early and our first five really did a nice job of that.”
On UF’s three-point shooting:
“It was great to see that our kids not only shot so well, but doing so on the road. They’ve been putting in so much extra time in the gym, getting shots up outside of practice. If you continue to do those things, then at some point it’s going to pay off and it did tonight. That was the separating factor in the game.”
On Cassie Peoples:
“It was really important for her to play that well for her team. Carlie (Needles) went out and left a hole in what we normally have in terms of our normal rotation and Cassie did what you expect her to do in stepping up and filling that role and hitting shots.”
On Florida’s defense in the second half:
“One of the things we knew we needed to do was increase our number of possessions and we had to do that by playing great defense. I thought our team did a really good job of adjusting and we were able to do a little better job in man. It was a combination of man and zone that allowed us to turn them over 30 times. We capitalized on those with 35 points. It gave us more possessions. When we got the ball back, we did a good job of generating the tempo that makes us a good team.”
What’s Next for the Gators:
- Hard to believe it’s here, but the Gators host Auburn in their regular-season finale on Sunday, February 28.
- Tip-off from the O’Connell Center is set for 2 p.m. ET.
- While the game will not be televised, SEC Network + will provide live online video available through the WatchESPN app and SECNetwork.com.
- Florida’s five seniors will be honored in a postgame ceremony.