It looked for a while like UF might get caught looking ahead on Thursday night at Southeastern Conference doormat Alabama.
Not so much.
The No. 11 Gators (21-2, 7-1 SEC) trailed for most of the first half, but in the final 6:49 before the break, UF stole the game away and never looked back en route to a 92-71 victory over the Crimson Tide (12-11, 0-8 SEC).
The win marks the best start for a UF team after 23 games.
It also sets up a showdown with No. 12 Tennessee (17-5, 6-2 SEC) on Sunday at 5 p.m. in the O'Connell Center. The game will be shown to a national television audience on ESPN2.
"Any time you can go on the road in this league and win, you've got to take your bags and get back on the plane and get home as quickly as you can and be thankful," UF coach Amanda Butler said.
The Gators trailed 30-26 against the Crimson Tide and were playing porous defense until they finally woke up and seized control.
UF tightened up defensively and finished the first half on a 22-5 run to take a 48-35 lead to the locker room.
The Gators' bench ignited the spark during the run. Centers Aneika Henry (7) and Azania Stewart (6), and guard Trumae Lucas (5) tallied a combined 18 points in the first half.
"One of our game goals was for our bench to score at least 30 points, and when we put it up there, I thought, 'Gosh, that might be a little lofty goal,'" Butler said.
It wasn't, as the Gators' bench recorded 32.
Sha Brooks, who started slow and had 10 points in the first half, seemingly could not miss in the second half.
The senior guard lit it up from 3-point range, shooting 6 of 9 from distance. She finished with 29 points, just 2 shy of her career high.
"She hit that first one, and I said, 'Here we go,'" Butler said. "That's kind of Sha's measuring stick. She's one of the best point guards in the country."
Junior guard Steffi Sorensen also provided big shots from deep, going 4 of 5 from long range and totaling 15 points.
UF followed up its record-setting 13 3-pointers on Sunday by shooting 11 of 17 from behind the arc against Alabama.
The Gators must now welcome the Volunteers to town on Sunday, the first game in a stretch where UF will face three of the top six SEC teams.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who reached her 1,000th career win Thursday night by dismantling Georgia, commented in her weekly teleconference Wednesday on UF's success this season.
"I haven't had a chance to really watch them, but just looking at their numbers and how they're playing, clearly (Butler's) got her team playing great basketball," Summitt said.
"I think just their toughness and how they come at people, everyone's talking about just their aggressiveness offensively and defensively. They're certainly playing well together from everything that I've heard."
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
