Senior guard Jordan Jones made her second 3-pointer in 41 seconds, giving the Gators a 36-33 lead with 19:08 remaining in regulation.
Then, she went cold.
After that early spark, Jones made just two shots in 10 attempts, including six missed tries from beyond the arc.
Despite her poor finish Friday night, Jones was one of few bright spots for Florida (0-1, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) in a 69-66 loss to Michigan (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) in the O’Connell Center.
Jones scored 21 points on the night, joining Lanita Bartley, who scored 11, as the only Gators in double figures Friday.
Aside from Jones and Bartley, the rest of the squad converted on just 11 of 37 shots.
“Defensively, they just wanted to challenge us and dare us to shoot,” UF coach Amanda Butler said.
“We took the challenge even though it wasn’t the wisest decision.”
Most disappointing was Florida’s post play offensively.
The Wolverines outscored the Gators 32-18 in the paint, including a dominant 18-4 advantage in the first half.
Senior center Azania Stewart was in foul trouble all night, ending the game with four and limiting her on-court time to 21 minutes.
As a result, junior forward Jennifer George shouldered the extra playing time, but did not make a significant impact.
She led all post players with 25 minutes, but attempted only one shot.
“They did a good job of winning the paint,” Butler said. “We weren’t even close to that.”
However, despite its poor offensive showing, Florida stayed within striking distance of Michigan throughout the contest.
The two teams exchanged leads 29 times and were tied on 13 different occasions; neither led by more than three points until the last half-minute.
Michigan clinched the victory when senior guard Courtney Boylan converted a three-point play with 27.1 seconds left to open up a 67-62 lead.
“It wasn’t really until the last minute or two minutes of that game where we got a five-point lead that — I don’t want to say it was on ice because it was never on ice,” Wolverines coach Kevin Borseth said.
