Despite a valiant effort against a physically superior team, Florida came up short on Senior Day in Gainesville against No. 17 Texas A&M, 83-72.
“Texas A&M is just a great team,” coach Amanda Butler said. “Coach (Gary) Blair does a fantastic job, and obviously had them really ready to come in here and play.”
The first half was tight throughout, with the Aggies (23-7, 13-3 Southeastern Conference) taking an eight-point lead only to have the Gators (18-11, 8-8 SEC) take the lead themselves close to eight minutes later.
At halftime, Texas A&M was leading by a point, 35-34.
“I felt like we battled for most of the ballgame,” Butler said. “There were a few things that were tough to overcome. But again, you have to give Texas A&M a lot of credit for making the things that are important to them important in really critical moments. Again, I think there are a lot of positives that we can take away from this game as we move forward to what is next.”
The Aggies eventually pulled away in the second half thanks to a 23-point effort from 6-foot-5 senior center Karla Gilbert.
“It was a great ballgame,” Blair said. “On senior day it’s tough to win at anybody’s facilities but I think the difference in the ballgame was we continually held the lead in the first half even when we were not playing our best and we were in a lot of foul trouble. They called it real tight early, (Ronni) Williams for them got two quick fouls and all my guards were in foul trouble.”
In her last game as a Gator in front of her home crowd, senior Jaterra Bonds led Florida with 18 points and five assists.
Following the game, the Gators earned the fifth seed in the upcoming SEC tournament in Duluth, Ga.
“We’ve got a game to play this week that I am assuming will be on Thursday,” Butler said. “We don’t know against who yet, but that is the most important thing. I think that one of the things that has made this team special all year is that they have done a great job of keeping everything in order. The way that they think about things and focus, it is always about what is next, not about what is next that will set us up for what is after. It is always what is right in front of us and what do we need to do get ready for that.”
Follow Gordon Streisand on Twitter @GordonStreisand
