Florida will not be facing Meighan Simmons tonight in the first round of the WNIT, but the Gators are preparing as if they are.
Simmons, Tennessee’s dynamic junior guard, leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game, including a 27-point outburst during a 78-75 overtime victory against Florida on Jan. 13.
Coach Amanda Butler has used UF’s two matchups with Simmons to build a frame of reference for Florida International’s Jerica Coley, who the Gators (18-14) will have the task of limiting.
Coley, also a junior guard, leads the nation in scoring with a school-record 25.9 points per game.
Curbing her offensive output will be critical for UF to beat FIU tonight at 7 at U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami.
“[Coley] is very efficient. Simmons is a great comparison,” Butler said.
“The young man for Ole Miss, Marshall (Henderson), she’s that type of player. She does take a lot of shots and has the ball in her hands a lot, but she doesn’t take a lot of bad shots, she doesn’t force a lot of shots, and she really shoots a pretty decent percentage for as many shots as she takes.”
Senior Jennifer George is the only holdover from Florida’s most recent meeting with Florida International, a 71-60 victory on Nov. 29, 2009.
Because of the unfamiliarity that exists having not played FIU (19-12) in more than three years, Butler utilizes UF’s experience playing against other top guards, such as Simmons, to develop a scouting report.
“It gives them an idea to attach to because that’s one of the things that is unique about postseason,” Butler said.
“We come off of a season where we have so much familiarity, and we know each other by first name and tendencies, (and therefore) we hardly need a personnel scouting report to somebody that is completely foreign.”
Coley, a two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, is FIU’s only double-figures scorer and is responsible for 42.4 percent of its offense this season.
She shoots 43.4 percent from the floor while logging 39.5 minutes per game.
“She just is exceptional,” Butler said.
“She has a great pull-up game, a great game off the dribble that is not as prevalent in the women’s game and that mid-range game. She has all of it. She is very complete.”
Butler said junior guard Jaterra Bonds, Florida’s strongest on-ball defender, will be tasked with slowing Coley as much as possible.
Although there is not much familiarity between the two teams, Bonds remembers Coley from facing her when the two grew up playing basketball in Florida.
“The only thing I know is they have the No. 1 scorer in the country,” Bonds said of FIU.
“She averages 25.9 points to be exact. … I played against her in AAU. I know who she is.”
Contact Phil Heilman at pheilman@alligator.org.
Junior guard Jaterra Bonds shoots during Florida’s 69-58 win against Arkansas on Feb. 28 in the O’Connell Center. Bonds scored 12 points against Winthrop on Monday.
