UF's road woes continue.
The No. 17 Gators (23-6, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) failed to overcome Georgia (17-12, 7-7 SEC) on Sunday, allowing the Bulldogs to shoot 52 percent and falling 84-75 in Athens, Ga.
The defeat marked the fourth in the last five games for UF and the third straight away from home.
Despite the loss, the Gators had already secured a first-round bye in the SEC tournament after LSU defeated Tennessee on Thursday.
UF will be the No. 4 seed and will play on Friday night against the winner of the game between No. 5-seed Tennessee and No. 12-seed Alabama.
Still, based on the Gators' effort against Georgia, they won't be entering the postseason on a high note.
"The story of the game was not our shooting," UF coach Amanda Butler said. "It was not the shots that we took. It was the shots that we gave up."
The Gators trailed 45-38 at the break but came out in the second half playing tighter defense and captured the lead.
UF stayed in front until about midway through the second half, when Georgia slowly began to reclaim the momentum.
Butler had only one explanation for what happened.
"You can't press at that crazy, neck-break pace for an entire 20 minutes, no matter how deep you are," Butler said. "So when there was a little bit of a lull, they took advantage of it. We got a little bit too tired to trap and pressure the ball on every single possession like we started the ballgame."
The Bulldogs put the Gators away with a 3-pointer with three minutes remaining, pushing their lead from 4 to 7.
UF was never able to recover.
"We just let them score at will," Butler said. "We let them score how they wanted to score. We let them have the shots that they wanted, and you've got to give them credit, they didn't miss them.
"It was ridiculous," she added. "Nothing against Georgia, but that's not their thing to score a bunch of points on you. That's not how they've won ballgames this year."
Forward Marshae Dotson tried to carry the Gators down the stretch, scoring 22 points, but it wasn't enough.
Sha Brooks struggled to complement Dotson's effort. The senior guard was held to just 13 points and had six turnovers.
Georgia forward Porsha Phillips added 20 points of her own on the low block, and Bulldogs guard Ashley Houts posted 14.
Butler said her team has to play better defense to win in the postseason.
"Every game is an away game now, and although it's at a neutral site, you're not going to be on your home floor," Butler said. "And the one thing that you're going to have to rely on is your defense and then also your rebounding."
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
