STORRS, Conn. – The Florida women’s basketball team has been digesting its last game for more than two weeks and today will try to get the bitterness out of its system against Temple in a first-round game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the University of Connecticut’s Gampel Pavilion.
Coach Amanda Butler’s Gators, whose season reached its zenith with a 66-57 victory over Tennessee on Feb. 8 that helped them to the No. 9 ranking in the Associated Press media poll, have not played since their 71-67 loss to Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols in the Southeastern Conference Tournament on March 6.
The setback, Florida’s fifth in its final six games, left the 23-7 Gators questioning themselves in a season that included a 15-game winning streak after an opening-game loss and a seven-game winning streak before the disastrous conclusion of the regular season. The collapse dropped Florida to an 8th seed in the Trenton Regional bracket.
“We lost a game we felt we should have won in the SEC Tournament,” senior center Marshae Dotson said Saturday at the team’s final press conference before their game this afternoon at approximately 2:30 p.m. (WRUF-FM, ESPN) against No. 9 seed Temple (21-9).
“I still think our team is still feeling that loss,” Dotson added, “and good luck to Temple because we are going to take it all out on them.”
Butler, of course, would prefer her team not be so pointed in its comments toward the Owls. But then the way the team finished the regular season, the former Gator point guard probably will let things slide, knowing her team needed its confidence back more than anything else.
“We are excited to be here and are really anxious to start playing,” Butler said. “It seems like a long time since we’ve played a game. We have had a lot of great days of practice and opportunities to get ourselves better, and now we have an opponent to focus on.”
The two schools are not strangers to each other. Florida has won five of the previous six meetings between the two schools, including 68-54 last season in Gainesville.
The Owls are coached by first-year coach Tonya Cardoza, a former assistant to UConn’s Geno Auriemma, and are also coming off a two-week hiatus since their last outing – a 73-50 loss to Charlotte in the Atlantic-10 Tournament semifinals.
Temple will present a big and physical front, led by 6-2 senior forward Shenita Landry (12.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg), 6-4 senior Shanea Cotton (10.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and 6-0 freshman Kristen McCarthy (8.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg). Junior guard LaKeisha Eaddy is scoring 11.7 ppg and dishing out 5.5 assists per outing. The other starter is 5-8 junior guard Kristie Watkins-Day. Shaqwedia Wallace is the team’s 3-point specialist, having shot 42.2 percent (46-of-109) from beyond the line.
“Florida has some explosive offensive players,” Cardoza said. “Sha Brooks is one of the dominant players not only in the SEC but in the country. You have to try to get the ball out of her hands. She does a really good job getting to the basket and she could shoot the ball from really, really deep. Marshae Dotson is a factor for them inside. She’s undersized but she plays a lot like Charles Barkley.”
Brooks, a 5-7 senior point guard, is averaging 16.6 points and 4.7 assists a game. The 5-11 Dotson comes in averaging 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. Florida’s other starters include 5-10 junior forward Sharielle Smith (7.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg), 5-8 freshman guard Trumae Lucas and 5-10 junior guard Steffi Sorensen, who is averaging 9.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and shooting 39.1 percent from 3-point land (72 of 184).
The Florida bench, led by junior guard Lonnika Thompson, 6-4 freshman center Azania Stewart and 6-3 senior center Aneika Henry, has been productive most of the season.
“Everyone on the team knows that this could possibly be our last game,” Dotson said. “We don’t want it to be, but we have to put it all out there (against) Temple.”
The winner of the Florida-Temple game will play the winner of the noon game between top-ranked Connecticut (33-0), the No. 1 seed in the region, against No. 16 seed Vermont (21-11) on Tuesday evening. Florida already has a victory over Vermont this season, an 85-76 triumph in the first round of the State Farm Classic in Gainesville on Dec. 29. Florida has met Connecticut only once, losing 71-48 in Storrs during the 1991 season when coach Butler was point guard Butler.
NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Who: No. 8 seed Florida (23-7) vs. No. 9 seed Temple (21-9).
When: Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Where: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027), Storrs, Conn.
TV: ESPN (Pam Ward, play-by-play; Doris Burke, color analyst).
Radio: WRUF-FM (103.7) in Gainesville (Steve Babik, play-by-play; Steve Russell, color analyst). Game also on internet at http://www.gatorzone.com.
Info: First-round game in the Trenton (N.J.) Regional; winner of game will play the winner of the game between No. 1 seed Connecticut (33-0) and No. 16 seed Vermont (21-11), which tips off at noon on ESPN2. That second-round game will be played Tuesday night at the Gampel Pavilion (UConn’s home court) at a time to be determined and televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.