Jennifer George walked off the court with a smile after sinking two free throws that put her team up 7 points with 2:37 left in the game en route to a 59-53 win for the Gators over Arkansas to open Southeastern Conference play.
“I’ve been going to the line a lot, but I haven’t been converting them,” said George, who came into the game shooting at a 60-percent clip from the free-throw line. “I just told myself I was going to make it. I just told myself to have confidence and it’s going to go in.”
Days before today’s game, senior Steffi Sorensen said she talked to George, a freshman, about the heightened intensity of a conference game.
“Everything is just up another level,” George said. “Each possession is critical, every turnover, every basket, everything. And that’s the biggest thing I realized from SEC games from non-conference games.”
UF (8-6, 1-0 SEC) shot 75 percent (18 of 24) from the charity stripe to put away the Razorbacks (8-6, 0-1 SEC) in a tight game that saw seven lead changes and five ties. The Hogs’ last free-throw attempts came when the game was still a toss-up at 44-38 with Florida leading. After Sarah Watkins’ failed attempts, the Gators sank 11 of their next 15 free-throw shots to ice the game.
“When you win on the road in the SEC, it’s like getting two wins. It’s huge,” Sorensen said, who made two free-throws with 53 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. “It’s a step in the right direction for us. Everyone feels good, but at the same time it’s only going to get harder from here.”
Coach Amanda Butler said the team talked about how everything was magnified in conference play, including free-throw shooting.
On an afternoon where UF was unable to rely on its 3-point shooting (5 of 19) — except for Lonnika Thompson, who scored 9 of her 12 points on 3-pointers — the difference lie in the team’s ability to drain free throws.
It was a similar story for Arkansas, which finished 2-of-18 shooting from beyond the arc and was picked up by its free-throw shooting. The Razorbacks however, attempted 14 shots from the free-throw line, 10 fewer attempts than the Gators, and made 11 of them.
Center Azania Stewart, who also finished with 12 points, was just as instrumental at the line, making all six of her attempts.
It wasn’t just the freebie shots that gave the Gators the win. It was also a defense that held the Hogs to 32-percent shooting from the field. Florida also did its part in limiting Arkansas to one-shot attempts and managed to out-rebound the Razorbacks 42-38.
“That was what I was most pleased with,” Butler said. “We did a great job in the second half in particular, on the defensive boards — it was something we didn’t so well in the first half.”
Sorensen said the defense stuck out to her and despite allowing Lyndsay Harris to score 21 points, the Hogs’ next highest-scoring player, C’iera Ricketts, tallied 11 points.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
