LEXINGTON, KY — The 16th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats used a devastating 23-2 run late in the second half to blow open a close game en route to a 77-51 victory over Florida Thursday evening in front of a Memorial Coliseum crowd of 6,638.
(The sports information department at the University of Florida provided content for this story)
The loss marked the first time this season Florida (13-13, 6-7 SEC) has lost three straight, with all of the losses during this stretch coming against nationally-ranked opponents and two of which have been on the road.
With 9:04 remaining, Lonnika Thompson’s three-pointer brought the Gators within two points, 47-45, but that’s as close as Florida would come. Kentucky (22-4, 10-3 SEC) reeled off the game-changing run that lasted almost seven minutes and improved to 16-0 at home this season, while extended its home winning streak to 17 games.
UK’s Keyla Snowden came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, including a 5-5 three-point effort, while Lydia Watkins scored 19 points with nine rebounds to help the Wildcats edge the Gators, 31-30, on the boards.
“We struggled early giving up offensive rebounds and I thought we adjusted and did a good job with that,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “Snowden hit and every single time we seemed to be surprised every time she shot in our face and that’s disappointing because to let a three-point shooter go off in one way and we never took it away from her.”
Trumae Lucas scored all of her team-high 12 points in the first half, while Thompson finished with 10 points for the Gators, who shot 36.5 percent (19-52) for the game, including a 23.1 percent (6-26) during the deciding second half when the Wildcats outscored the Gators, 48-18, after Florida held a 33-29 halftime lead.
“It was certainly a tale of two halves,” Butler said. “In the first half, I was very pleased with our effort and some how in the second half we checked out mentally. We did not maintain our composure down the stretch. You have to give a lot of credit to Kentucky because their players stepped up.”
Florida turned the ball over 23 times during the game, with 14 coming in the second half, when UK hit 66.7 percent of its shots en route to a 47.2 percent shooting night.
The teams traded scores to begin the second half until UK netted six straight to erase Florida’s six-point halftime lead and tie the game at 37-all, forcing the Gators to call a timeout as the Wildcat fans were whipped into a frenzy.
Thompson stopped the run with a tough 12-footer as the shot clock expired that kept the Gators ahead.
Lydia Watkins followed with two free throws and tied the game. Ndidi Madu missed a shot under the bucket and fouled Watkins on the other end, as she made both and gave UK the lead. She then picked Thompson’s pocket and dribbled the length of the court for the layup to give to the Wildcats a 43-39 lead.
Foul trouble began to weigh heavily on the Gators inside game, when forward Sharielle Smith, UF’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, was whistled for her fourth personal with 13:19 to go.
The Gators got tough on defense and came away with a steal that Jennifer Mossor took for a layup and brought UF within two, but UK followed with two more from the charity stripe and extended its lead to four, 45-41.
Madu missed another short shot inside while UK’s Brittany Henderson powered in a one from close range and the Wildcat lead grew to six with 12:07 to play.
Florida continued to battle and scored the next four points, with one free throw from Jennifer George and a three-pointer from Thompson that brought the Gators back to within two, 47-45.
Kentucky came right back after a timeout, when Keyla Snowden hit a three from the top of the arc. The Gators committed a shot-clock violation on their next possession and Snowden made them pay with another deep tand tied their largest lead of the game. Watkins then powered in one from short and UF’s deficit grew to 10 points, 55-45, with 6:39
remaining.
Jennifer George finally stopped the 8-0 run with a power layup inside, but the Wildcats followed with a 15-0 spree that took their lead to 23 before the Gators could score again.
UK crashed the offensive boards hard, collecting three on its first possession of the game and being rewarded with a bucket on the fourth attempt.
The trend continued for the first four and half minutes, as the Wildcats snatched a total of 11 offensive rebounds, helping establish a 7-3 lead. Lonnika Thompson’s three-pointer was the lone Gator scoring during the opening minutes, as Florida attempted just three shots compared to UK’s 14 from the floor.
The Gators settled down a bit and Jordan Jones drove to the basket and converted a layin and brought UF within two, 7-5.
Kentucky countered with four quick points and widened its lead, before Trumae Lucas added four points of her own on driving layups. Lucas’ scores, however, came in between Wildcat three-pointers, as the home team extended its margin to eight points.
Ndidi Madu put back an offensive rebounds for the Gators and Jones added a trey that got the Gators within three, 17-14. After a three-point play by UK’s Victoria Dunlap, Lucas hit two free throws and Steffi Sorensen popped in a 10-footer in the paint and got the Gators within two, 20-18, with just over eight minutes left in the half.
UF had a chance to tie or take the lead, but turned the ball over deep while inbounding and A’dia Mathies converted the easy layup.
Sorensen came right back and nailed a deep three-pointer and the Gators had a chance to again take the lead after a strong defensive stand, but committed a foul and the ball went back to the Wildcats.
UF held again and Sorensen hit her second deep trey and tied the game at 24-all with 5:03 remaining in the period. Florida had a couple more chances to take its first lead, but couldn’t and Keyla Snowden made the Gators pay with a three-pointer from the top of the arc, keeping the Wildcats ahead by three, 27-24.
Lucas answered for Florida with six consecutive points, hitting a 6-foot jumper in the paint, coming up with a steal and a layup before sinking a floater in the lane. Jones kept the scoring spree going with a three-pointer from the left corner and gave the Gators a 33-27 lead with 1:36 on the clock.
Florida had three additional opportunities to build on its lead, but couldn’t convert, taking a 33-29 advantage into the locker room. UK’s only two points in the last 4:48 of the half came from the free throw line.
Lucas netted a game-high 12 points through the opening 20 minutes for Florida, while shot 50 percent (13-26) from the floor, including a 5-12 effort from the three-point arc. The Gators also recovered on the boards, closing to within one, 18-17, after such a tough start.
Kentucky converted 34.3 percent of its shots, with Snowden accounting for 11 points off the bench.
Florida used a different starting lineup for the fifth consecutive game, with Sharielle Smith, Jennifer George, Jordan Jones, Steffi Sorensen and Lonnika Thompson on the floor for Thursday’s opening tip.
The Gators return to action on Sun., Feb. 21, when they play host to No. 20 Georgia in the O’Connell Center beginning at 5 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will televise the game live from the O’Connell Center, while the radio broadcast is provided by WBXY-FM (The Star 99.5), which can be heard live through the internet at http://www.GatorZone.com, the official website of
the Florida Gators.