It seemed like everything was working against the UF women's basketball team during the weekend, but the Gators didn't care.
Despite playing back-to-back games for the second time in a week, being out of the country and having not defeated a ranked team on a neutral site since 1998, UF responded to the challenge.
The Gators defeated No. 21 Arizona State 65-60 on Saturday to claim the Junkanoo Jam title in Freeport, Bahamas.
The win was the second over a ranked team for UF in a seven-day span, having already knocked off then-No. 22 FSU last Sunday in Tallahassee.
The Gators needed a 67-56 victory over Southern Illinois on Friday to advance to Saturday's final.
Their win over the Sun Devils showed UF coach Amanda Butler how far her team has come this season.
"For our kids, it's just a confidence builder," she said. "It all builds up to what we do when we get to conference play. We wanted to challenge our team, and you get yourself ready for conference play and, hopefully, postseason play."
UF turned 12 Arizona State turnovers into 15 points to spark a 34-20 halftime lead. The Sun Devils only scored 3 points off 12 turnovers
Guard Sha Brooks, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, scored 25 points to lead the way to the upset after struggling the day before.
"I knew Sha was ready to play," Butler said. "She did not play her best (Friday), and she knew that. She's just one of those kids, too, that the bigger the opponent, the bigger the name, the bigger the game, she's going to raise her game."
After building a 15-point lead late in the game, the Gators had to hold off a furious Sun Devils comeback to win by 5.
UF held Arizona State to 36 percent shooting by mixing up defenses, which helped the Gators build their big lead.
"For us, it's an opportunity to improve, to have that confidence of beating someone that we're sure is going to be in postseason," Butler said.
On Friday, UF went to the locker room tied with the Salukis at 31 at halftime, but the Gators used a 10-2 run about midway through the second half to extend the lead and take control the rest of the way.
Steffi Sorensen, who was also voted to the All-Tournament Team along with Brooks, scored a career-high 14 points against Southern Illinois to help carry UF to Saturday.
Butler said she has talked with her team about accomplishing some firsts for the program or doing things that haven't been done at UF in a while.
Winning this regular-season tournament title on Saturday was a good start in doing so.
"That was what we talked about in the locker room," Butler said. "This was our first opportunity this season to win a championship, and they obviously rose to the occasion."
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
