Florida played arguably its best game this season, its first against a ranked opponent, but the Gators women’s basketball team couldn’t overtake Kentucky, ultimately falling 62-56 in Lexington.
The Gators had multiple opportunities to pull away from the No. 10 Wildcats, who were missing leading playmaker Janee Thompson.
Despite playing without Thompson, who suffered a dislocated left ankle and broken fibula Sunday against No. 1 South Carolina, the Wildcats found a way to make up for her missing production, receiving 20 points from Makayla Epps and 14 points from Linnae Harper to outlast the visiting Gators.
Kentucky (15-3, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) and Florida (9-9, 1-4 SEC) changed leads 17 times, the most lead changes all season for the Gators.
Cassie Peoples paced Florida with 12 points, but the redshirt junior shot just 4-for-15 from the field to continue her SEC shooting woes.
The Gators have repeatedly stressed the importance of taking care of the basketball, but Florida coughed the ball up 27 times — displaying a carelessness that has crippled the team throughout the season.
With Florida down 57-54 with under a minute to play, Kentucky missed a three-pointer from the corner and Florida had a chance to tie the game up, or cut the deficit to one point.
But Florida surrendered an offensive rebound, forcing the Gators to foul under the basket.
The Wildcats’ Azia Bishop went to the line with a chance to put the game away, but she missed both free throws.
However, Bria Goss corralled the second consecutive offensive rebound for Kentucky, and two Makayla Epps free throws put the game away for good.
Florida had a rough going from the free throw line, with the team leaving crucial points at the line that could have affected the final outcome. The Gators went 3-for-9 from the charity stripe, with only two of those attempts — both misses by freshman Brooke Copeland — coming in the second half.
The Wildcats went to the line 22 times and converted 13 of their attempts.
"There wasn’t just one thing and you can’t look down the stretch, you have to look at the game in its entirety and some of the decisions we made throughout the game," coach Amanda Butler said in a release.
Kayla Lewis had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Gators, while Ronni Williams and Haley Lorenzen added eight points apiece.
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Cassie Peoples drives into the paint during Florida's win against Longwood.
