Beating a top-five team in its house is a tall order. Against No. 4 South Carolina, it was for Florida.
Literally.
On Sunday afternoon, the Gamecocks imposed their statures on the Gators, handing them a 69-55 loss.
Florida showed great effort throughout the game, but the height discrepancy was too much to overcome.
“The reality matched what we thought,” coach Amanda Butler said.
“We knew they were big and they played big.”
In the first half, Florida fell victim to South Carolina’s block party in Colonial Life Arena.
South Carolina was ahead 32-22 at halftime and had registered eight blocks. Four of them came from 6-foot-4 freshman Alaina Coates, who was also the Gamecocks’ leading scorer at halftime with nine points.
“It was very, very, very physical in the paint,” Butler said. “We just got to be able to handle that better, regardless of whether the whistle’s blown or not.”
“I thought we had a lot of fight, a lot of toughness from some individuals; ultimately, not enough toughness all the way across the board and not enough possessions.”
Florida was 8 for 32 from the field at the end of the half and found itself at a disadvantage in every major statistical category, except turnovers.
Senior Jaterra Bonds led the way at the half with 10 points, but the Gators’ bench of January Miller, Antoinette Bannister and Lily Svete were held scoreless.
More of the same continued into the second half.
The Gamecocks jumped out to their biggest lead of the game, 46-30, with 12:54 remaining in the half.
Thanks to the efforts of redshirt junior Kayla Lewis and Bonds, the Gators rallied back into striking distance, closing the gap to seven points with 1:43 left on the clock.
Lewis was one rebound shy of recording a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine boards.
Bonds led the team with 20 points and a 9-for-14 effort from the field.
“She did as she typically does: exactly what we ask her to do,” Butler said of Bonds. “That was just to be aggressive and to attack the rim fearlessly with no hesitation. They’ve got great shot blockers on their team.
“I think the way that Jaterra played was her following game plan really well.”
Coates was perhaps the most impressive player of the game. For the contest, she was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field, scoring 16 points. She also registered 12 boards and five blocks.
Although the Gators struggled on offense, the defense was a bright spot on Sunday.
“I thought we defended them in the paint very well,” Butler said. “Where they outsized us, we were able to limit those guys’ touches pretty well. We played great team defense in the paint. There were just some other spots where we really let down.”
Florida also forced 18 turnovers. The Gators scored 16 points off turnovers compared to South Carolina’s three.
“It wasn’t necessarily something we thought we could really exploit,” Butler said. “It was just something that developed throughout the game, and we tried to pursue that game trend.”
Florida, now at .500 in the SEC, needs to win at least one of its final two games against tough conference opponents Vanderbilt and No. 16 Texas A&M.
In order to make the NCAA Tournament, Florida would most likely have to finish in the top half of the SEC and maintain at least a .500 record in conference play.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Gordon Streisand on Twitter @GordonStreisand
Jaterra Bonds attempts a shot during Florida’s 81-76 loss against Missouri on Thursday in the O’Connell Center.
