If a game can be won in the first half, Rutgers did just that against Florida on Monday.
The Scarlet Knights (6-4) smothered the Gators (3-5) in the final 11 minutes of the first half, going on a 17-1 run that forced Florida to play catch-up in the second half en route to a 51-38 loss.
“It was a little bit of a snowball effect there in the first half,” coach Amanda Butler said. “The good news was that as poorly as we had played we were only down 14 (at the end of the first half).”
Continuing an early season trend, UF shot the ball inconsistently and had one of its worst shooting nights of the season, making 11 of its 50 attempted shots in the game for a paltry 22 percent from the floor.
Of those 50 shots, 32 of them were 3-pointers, and Florida made just seven of its attempts from beyond the arc.
“I thought we were settling for 3s,” Butler said. “They weren’t necessarily contested, but we weren’t shooting them as confident shooters.
“We were shooting them because we felt like we needed to get a shot up there.”
Florida came out as it has in past games, with a quick four-minute start before the shots just couldn’t find the hole.
The Gators made two of their first three shots, including a 3-pointer by Steffi Sorensen, but finished the first half a dismal 3-of-16 shooting from 3-point range (18.8 percent).
“We relied on the 3, like we’ve done way too many times, way too many games,” Sorensen said. “We waited until the second half to start playing.”
The Gators’ inability to establish a post presence was one factor in settling for outside shots.
Azania Stewart picked up two quick fouls and was sent to the bench within the first four minutes of the game.
She was forced to sit out 10 minutes.
In the first half, UF was dominated in the paint by a 18-2 margin.
Florida’s post players couldn’t keep up with Rutgers’ Chelsey Lee, who scored 8 of her 12 points to start that game-changing run.
Her contribution wasn’t limited to scoring, as the sophomore center added 9 rebounds, two assists, a steal and three blocks.
“The thing that really ignited their run was the way Chelsey Lee was playing and really controlling the paint and rebounding the basketball,” Butler said. “Our post players didn’t respond very well and then our shooters started settling for shots that aren’t maybe the highest-percentage shots.”
UF will face Old Dominion on Friday before a nine-day break for final exams.
