BY: Jenna Ladd
Coming off of a tough loss to LSU the Florida Gators pulled out their first Southeastern Conference road win of 63-50 over the Auburn Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Auburn in the Auburn Arena.
Freshman Brooke Copeland was one of the key players on the Gators’ offense, as she led a balanced offensive attack and was the leading scorer, coming in at 12 points. Copeland went 4-of-8 on shooting from the three-point line. Carlie Needles and Ronni Williams both scored 11 points, with Kayla Lewis and Haley Lorenzen not far behind, each putting up 10 points.
However, even though the Gators had some strong shooters, the first half was a game of catch up that resulted in a close tie. Needles fired the three-point shot that tied up the first frame as the shot clock expired with 16 seconds remaining.
A combination of the Tigers’ 20 turnovers and a strong second half is what landed the Gators in the drivers’ seat for the SEC conference game. In the second half, Florida took off with a 7-0 run before Auburn picked up some momentum and closed within one point twice during the second frame, the latest with 14:56 remaining
“There were some individuals who made a great difference in the second half. In the second half, Kayla Lewis played the way we want her to play all the time and that was really, really important for us,” head coach Amanda Butler said. “We shot the ball better and that always helps. No matter what else goes right or wrong, if you shoot the ball well you can overcome 27 turnovers. That’s what we did today. Our players did a good job of really, really being excited every time they had a chance to play defense.”
The Gators were not about to have another close game after the hard loss to the LSU Tigers, so freshman Haley Lorenzen started off an 18-4 run that would give Florida some room to breathe. By 10:36 remaining, the Gators had expanded their lead to 47-41.
With 8:02 left in the game, Lewis strengthened the Gator lead with two layups followed by a three-pointer by Copeland. Williams finished off this 9-0 run with 2 free throws at 58-43 and 5:45 left on the playing clock. The Gators reached their largest lead of the game when Copeland drilled her fourth three-pointer at the 5:05 mark, giving Florida a 16-point lead at 61-45.
Auburn came back fighting with a 5-0 run, their last points going up on the board with 3:30 left to play. However, they were unable to close in on Florida’s strong lead and Lorenzen finished the scoring of the game with an offensive rebound layup with 1:13 left on the clock.
The Florida Gators (9-6, 1-1 SEC) will take on their next SEC opponent, the Ole Miss Lady Rebels (12-4, 0-1 SEC), on Thursday, January 8 in the Stephen O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida at 7:00 p.m.