The words “elevate” and “process” bear some form of synonymity.
They both describe the act of increasing improvement. Hence why the Florida Gators women’s basketball team knew the season could be a process when they adopted the team motto of “Elevate”.
While Friday afternoon’s game ended in a positive result, head coach Amanda Butler knows there’s much room for improvement.
“We’re in no danger of peaking too early,” Butler said. “Individually though, I think we had a lot of things to be proud of.”
Contested the entire night, Florida held strong and finished off Jacksonville en route to a season opening 84-73 win over the Dolphins.
Sophomore Ronni Williams contributed 18 points on a 7-of-13 shooting performance that featured an array of low-post scoring moves and solid mid-range shooting.
“To come out here, and actually show what we’ve been working on, it’s a blessing,” Williams said.
Ten minutes into the first half, Williams took a hard shot and appeared to injure her left elbow. She returned to the game soon after, however, and was nonchalant when joking about it after the game.
“I tend to fall on my elbow all the time,” Williams said. “The floor finds my elbow, but I’m fine.”
Last season’s Florida team often relied on a combination of seven different players, consistently getting minimal contributions from its bench. That’s no longer an issue this season, as the Gators got 38 points from its bench, led by junior Antoinette Bannister’s 16 points.
Butler stressed that she doesn’t want any of the bench players to think of themselves as inferior to the first unit.
The eighth-year head coach instead wants the team to envision two different units where players can step in and contribute an equivalent level of production.
“Everybody is going to get an opportunity to contribute in some way,” Butler said. “We want them to be efficient with their minutes, we want them to be confident and aggressive with their opportunity.”
Minutes into the second half, the Gators showed how dangerous that second unit can be. Florida quickly went on a 12-4 run, getting 10 points from Bannister – playing against her hometown’s college.
“I think Antoinette in particular did a great job of establishing…if I get to be in that second wave then I’m going to make that second wave even more important than the first wave,” Butler said.
Often outrebounded by its opponents last season, the Gators spent portions of the preseason working on its post-shot rebounding positioning.
Freshmen Haley Lorenzen and Brooke Copeland give the Gators a post presence that was sorely missed last season.
Lorenzen and Copeland combined with fellow freshman Dyandria Anderson for 22 points, a strong contribution from the freshmen.
“Our freshmen, I thought had a fantastic debut,” Butler said.
With the team outrebounding the Dolphins 41-34, Butler was satisfied with the team’s effort in that element of the game.
“We wanted to make sure we had a solid rebounding performance,” Butler said.
Rounding out the Gators, redshirt senior Kayla Lewis had 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while also pulling down seven rebounds. Redshirt junior Viktorija Dimaite made her Florida debut, playing one minute to start a collegiate career that’s been derailed by multiple knee and ankle injuries. A clear benefit of its newfound height, the Gators had six blocks, led by three from Lorenzen. Redshirt junior Cassie Peoples turned in a solid all-around performance, dishing seven assists to go along with six points and four rebounds.
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Ronni Williams goes up for a layup during Florida's 84-73 win against Jacksonville on Nov. 14 in the O'Connell Center
