With the holiday break around the corner, the UF women’s basketball team enjoyed some merriment with its first win outside the state of Florida on Friday.
The Gators (4-5) beat Old Dominion 81-67 in Norfolk, Va., to halt a two-game losing skid and more importantly, get a quality win on the road. UF had dropped three games on the road and picked up its sole road win in nearby Miami.
“This was a huge win for our team,” coach Amanda Butler said. “I’m really proud of our players for responding to the challenges we put in front of them in practice.”
Senior Steffi Sorensen, who came into the game with a string of inconsistent shooting nights—a reflection of the team’s overall shooting identity—found her stroke and finished with a career-high 20 points.
She shot 70 percent from the field, including a 6-of-9 effort from beyond the arc. She added nine rebounds, which has been Sorensen’s saving grace this season when the shots haven’t been falling.
“What’s most impressive about Steffi is not her scoring,” Butler said. “It’s the way she gets her rebounds. You have to appreciate that aspect of her game, which is so overlooked.”
As a team, the Gators shot the ball a solid 47.5 percent from the field, but struggled to find the long shot. The team did convert 8 of 19 3-pointers, but six of them came from Sorensen.
The other stand-out offensive weapon in the win was Florida’s Ndidi Madu. She shot 8 of 14 from the floor, and finished with 16 points. Like Sorensen, Madu’s achievement marked a career high.
In 32 minutes of action, Madu scored her points and established a much-needed force in the paint. She nabbed six rebounds and two steals, but also brought defensive heat with four blocks — two more blocks than the whole Lady Monarchs team.
“I’m really proud of the effort by Ndidi Madu, who played like she practiced and gave us the energy we needed at the start of the game,” Butler said.
Old Dominion didn’t do itself any favors at the charity stripe. The Lady Monarchs made 43 trips to the line, but only came away with 24 points (55.8 percent). By comparison, the Gators, who only made 23 total trips to the free-throw line, came away with 15 points (65 percent).
