A 13-4 run in the final 1:34 by the Florida women’s basketball team came up two points short of victory Tuesday as visiting Florida A&M scored a 72-71 victory at the O’Connell Center.
A turnover by Florida guard Jordan Jones, who was falling to the floor and tried to find Steffi Sorensen with a pass, turned into a steal for Florida A&M’s Tameka McKelton, who took the ball to the basket for a layup and a 68-58 Rattlers lead.
Azania Stewart hit a jumper with 1:25 left to cut the lead back to eight, 68-60, but FAMU hit four free throws – two by Christian Rateree and two by Bianca Cordero – to put the Rattlers up 72-60 with 48 seconds remaining.
A layup by Stewart with 41 seconds left began an 11-0 run to the finish for the Gators, who forced three turnovers and survived three missed free throws by Rateree. Sharielle Smith came up with two rebounds on missed 3-pointers by Jones and Sorensen, scoring on the second one with 23 seconds left. Smith then rebounded another missed 3-pointer by Sorensen and hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds to cut the lead to 72-66.
Following a FAMU timeout, Jones made a steal and fed Tessah Holt, who was fouled and hit both free throws with nine seconds left to cut the margin to four, 72-68. Florida quickly fouled Rateree, who missed both free throws. Jones hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining but FAMU managed to get the ball inbounds and the clock ran out on what might have been a miracle comeback.
Stewart, a sophomore from England, scored 17 points, thanks to 7-of-9 shooting. Jones finished with 13 points and Smith added 10 off the bench with 9 rebounds, three fewer than Sorensen, who finished with 8 points.
The late heroics were impressive but Florida coach Amanda Butler wanted to talk about effort afterward.
“I don’t think effort is a good way to describe it; we shouldn’t even use that word in reference to how we played,” Butler said. “Individual efforts? I thought Steffi with 12 rebounds was fantastic, and Stewart’s effort was fantastic. But if we’re going to talk about effort, then we need to talk about Florida A&M.”
FAMU (4-2) shot 62.5 percent in the second half and finished at 52.7 percent (29 of 55) for the game. McKelton scored 27 points thanks to 12-of-16 shooting, including three of four 3-point shots. Forward Antonia Bennett hit 8-of-12 shots, including 5-of-6 3-pointers, on way to 21 points.
The Rattlers held Florida (3-4) to 36.9 percent on 24-of-65 shooting, including 7-of-29 from beyond the 3-points line. Sorensen and Jordan combined to hit just 7 of 28 shots (25 percent) and were a combined 5-of-23 shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
“(Our) shooting will come together, but I’m always going to come out and try to help the team,” Sorensen said. “I always kind of rely on effort if my shots aren’t falling. If my shots don’t fall, that’s not going to dictate how I play in the game.”
The Gators came out of the tunnel and opened up a quick 12-0 lead against the Rattlers, who looked shaky in the first few minutes. But when Bennett knocked down a 3-pointer to start the Rattlers’ scoring, the game’s gap closed quickly.
Bennett again knocked down a trey to give the Rattlers their first lead of the game, 25-23, with 8:55 left to play. But a late 7-2 run in the half sent the Gators to the locker room with a three-point lead, 37-34.
After Jennifer George opened the second-half scoring for Florida with a basket to increase the lead to five points, FAMU went on a 14-0 run for a 48-39 with 14:50 remaining. Each Gator run in the second half was answered by the Rattlers, who got up and down the court quickly and dominated Florida in both transition offense and defense.
“We’ve talked a lot about how we have to play to win games, and that must not be sinking in very well,” Butler said. “We came out of the game with a lot of intensity and went up 12, but then we relaxed. We can’t relax in any situation right now. Their intensity exceeded ours.”
For Butler, the immediate solution to the Gators’ woes is simple – practice.
“We’re going to practice,” she said. “Thank goodness. I don’t think we’re fatigued, but we clearly have to get a lot better. It’s hard to improve just in games, and so we need practice time, and we will get the most out of our 20 hours a week. We’re going to make sure we’re better the next time we put on our uniforms because tonight we didn’t deserve to be wearing Florida uniforms.”
Florida is off until Monday when it plays Big East power Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.