RALEIGH, N.C. – Florida women’s basketball coach Amanda Butler can’t be blamed for feeling good about her team, which just keeps winning and winning and winning.
The Gators’ latest triumph, a 66-61 decision over North Carolina State Sunday afternoon in the Reynolds Coliseum, is their eighth straight since a season-opening loss at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
“This win is fantastic, it really is,” Butler said. “It shows mental toughness that you can handle adversity when you play on the road. Things aren’t always going to go your way, that’s just the way it is and you have to expect that. For us to be able to handle the travel and everything that comes with it and still walk away with a victory feels great.”
Senior Sha Brooks, starting her 100th straight game, led Florida with 15 points, including 9-for-9 from the free-throw line. Brooks also had a career-high nine assists in leading the balanced Florida attack.
Senior Marshae Dotson added 13 points with a game-high nine rebounds, while junior Steffi Sorensen contributed 11 points and freshman Trumae Lucas provided a career-best nine points on 4-of-5 shooting while seeing 21 minutes of court time.
Florida led the whole game but had a tough time shutting down Shayla Fields and Nikitta Gartrell, who scored 25 and 12 points, respectively, for the Wolfpack (4-5).
“To take the lead in this ballgame and never give it up is what I’m most proud of tonight,” Butler shared. “I think it’s very important to get a lead and keep the lead in a game like this and against a coaching legend that Kay Yow is. It’s just an honor to be able to compete against her.”
Dotson hit back-to-back buckets early in the second half to stop a 5-0 N.C. State-run that cut Florida’s lead to three points, 34-31. The teams traded scores for the next several minutes, when Gartrell hit a pair of free throws to get the Pack again within three, 43-40, with 10:11 remaining.
That’s when Lucas, a Greenboro native who was playing in her home state for the first time, buried a 3-pointer from the corner to begin a 9-0 Florida run over the next three minutes. The lead went to 59-46 with 4:33 remaining thanks to Sorensen’s second 3-pointer and a Lucas layup after Brooks made a steal and then fed her streaking teammate.
Dotson made a difficult catch in the paint and scored to give Florida a 12-point lead with 2:59 remaining.
“I’m so proud of Marshae and how she continues to battle every night,” Butler said. “It seems like she gets beat up every game but is able to keep her composure.”
The Wolfpack closed to within six points, 62-56, with 34 seconds remaining, but Brooks hit all four free throws in the final 29 seconds to give Florida a 66-59 cushion.
Florida held North Carolina State to 33-percent shooting (23 of 70), but the Gators shot a season-low 41 percent (22 of 54). An 18-of-22 effort from the free-throw line more than made up for that and the Wolfpack’s 45-40 rebounding edge. It was only the second time this season that Florida has been outrebounded.
The Gators return to the O’Connell Center Wednesday to play Coppin State in a 5:30 p.m. game which will be followed by the men’s game against Florida Gulf Coast University at 8.