When the clock struck zero on the Florida women’s basketball team’s first win in almost three weeks, point guard Lanita Bartley tossed the ball skyward in a moment of jubilation.
While Bartley’s display is one usually reserved for championship festivities, Florida had plenty reason to celebrate. After dropping games they were in position to win against Kentucky and Georgia, the Gators (13-9, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) were finally able to close out an opponent.
“Our team was really emotional,” Bartley said of her postgame excitement. “I was just happy that we won, bounced back and put (those) other games in the past.”
Bartley’s aggressiveness keyed an 11-2 UF run to start the second half that helped propel the Gators to a 70-64 win over Alabama (11-10, 0-8 SEC) Thursday night in the O’Connell Center.
But, like most Florida games this season, it wasn’t pretty.
UF hit just four of its first 20 looks from the field and seemed content to chuck it up from long range early on. And after turning it over only five times in the first 15:14, Florida had three miscues in the final five minutes of the first half that led directly to six Alabama points.
“We’re not afraid of ugly,” coach Amanda Butler said. “We just want the result. … When we’re playing our best, it’s not free-flowing and this pristine image of basketball.”
Florida was down by five midway through the first half then rallied with 22 points in the next 10 minutes and trailed by only two at the break.
The Gators came out fast in the second and established a seven-point lead. Then, the turnovers started to come in bunches, and it appeared Florida was ready to hand another game away.
Eight turnovers in a five-minute span cut the lead to one with less than 11 minutes to go, but Butler said she wasn’t worried about another collapse.
“We talked very honestly about that after the Kentucky game,” Butler said. “Tonight, we were playing to win. We weren’t playing to not turn the ball over; we were playing to make the play.”
Florida had zero turnovers in the final five minutes and connected on 9 of 9 from the charity stripe to put the game away.
Forward Jennifer George and guard Jaterra Bonds tied for the team-high with 12 points.
Bartley — who also added five assists, four rebounds and three steals — and forward Ndidi Madu were both one shy of double-digits with nine points.
Junior guard Deana Allen, the team’s leading scorer in conference play, also dropped nine while grabbing seven rebounds.
“I felt relieved once we got the win, so we can put that losing streak behind us,” Allen said. “Not one time did we give up. … This is the start of a winning streak for us now.”
