Coming off its third straight loss, the Florida Gators women’s basketball team found a way to get back into the win column, defeating Stetson 59-54 in the O’Connell Center on Sunday.
Florida (6-4) found itself contested throughout the game, with the Hatters forcing the Gators into numerous turnovers – sloppy turnovers that often had Coach Amanda Butler shaking her head in frustration. The turnovers have been the Achilles heel of sorts for the team, who have coughed the ball up an average of 20.7 times per game this season.
The Gators needed all 40 minutes to shake Stetson (7-3), who got 22 points from sharpshooting senior Myeisha Hall. Hall hit five shots from behind the arc, with four coming in the first half alone, and Florida consistently failed to rotate effectively and put a hand in the shooter’s face. After the halftime break, the Gators made adjustments and closed out Stetson’s shooters more efficiently, limiting the Hatters to contested long range shots.
“It was not a secret that Hall was going to shoot it because she is a great shooter,” Butler said. “We talked about it at halftime, made some adjustments and did a much better job in the second half.”
Carlie Needles led the way for the Gators with 10 points and seven rebounds, an all-around consistent performance for the guard who has struggled in Florida’s last three games. With the Gators coming out with more energy than the team has shown recently, Needles insisted that the Gators are taking steps to make the necessary corrections.
“It was a big thing for us to start off with a lot of energy,” Needles said. “There’s still a goal in the second half we need to fix, but other than that it’s all up from here.”
Kayla Lewis had nine points and 15 rebounds for the Gators, who won another tough rebounding battle inside. Florida has outrebounded its opponent in five of the team’s six wins this year, with Butler placing a high amount of emphasis on getting to the missed shots on the defensive end in order to run in transition.
“Kayla gave us a lot of second opportunities, and it really ignited our (fast) break and gave us some transition points that were very important,” Butler said.
After missing the first half in the loss to Wisconsin, redshirt junior Cassie Peoples started for the Gators but was ineffective for most of the afternoon. Peoples shot 1-for-8 from the field with six turnovers, yet got to the line and converted seven of her eight free throw attempts to finish with nine points.
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Carlie Needles looks to pass the ball during Florida's 59-54 win against Stetson.
