For the first time in three weeks, Florida returned to action at home in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators, who last played on Dec. 4, continued their torrid pace on Tuesday night in Gainesville, posting their second consecutive 100-point game in a 105-71 victory against the Red Flash.
“We really needed to play a game,” coach Amanda Butler said. “We’ve had some really good practices and we were starting to get to a point where it was starting to get hard to have really good practices because we had been going so hard. I was very proud of the maturity and the effort that we had during exam week. We go to one of the toughest universities in the country, and for our kids to stay so focused during their exams, being challenged academically the way they are, and still bringing it to practice, I was real proud of that. It was definitely time to play.”
Florida rose to the occasion, with seven of its eight players scoring in double digits.
Redshirt junior Kayla Lewis led the way for the Gators, posting game highs with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think rebounding is an intentional thing,” Lewis said. “You have to put yourself in position to get rebounds. You have to take pride in that. The team has to box out, undercut and things like that. You have to get crafty, use your hands a little bit and prepare our head to get that rebound. As far as defense goes, we worked all week on defense. We’ve had two weeks of defense. It should show. It showed tonight that we practiced defense.”
The Gators played their best defensive game of the season on Tuesday, winning the rebounding battle 45-38 while also forcing 43 turnovers — the second-highest in Florida program history and the most Florida has recorded since forcing 42 against Bethune-Cookman in 1995.
“I think it just adds to it being a fun game,” Butler said. “There were a lot of possessions. I think we wore the officials out. They’re back there getting IV’s and stuff because it was just up-and-down and up-and-down. I’m really proud of that. It is just one of those things where the kids can look at the stat sheet after the game and see 43 turnovers. We did that. It just adds to the way you feel about yourself as a unit.”
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Sophomore Kayla Lewis shoots during Florida’s 68-57 loss to Vanderbilt on Feb. 21 in the O’Connell Center.
