Faced with the possibility of opening Southeastern Conference play with back-to-back losses, the Gators women’s basketball team made sure to avoid a letdown Sunday, as Florida dispatched Auburn 63-50 to claim its first SEC win of the season.
Brooke Copeland — playing in front of numerous family members who made the three-hour trip from Cleveland, Tennessee — scored a team-leading 12 points on four three-point baskets. The freshman forward has provided a spark off the bench this season, as her outside shooting prowess despite her height has often left her open from behind the arc.
Florida (9-6, 1-1 SEC) went into the half with the score tied at 29, with Auburn (9-6, 0-2 SEC) seeming poised to take the lead and handle the Gators. But Florida would hit 59.1 percent of its shots in the second half, outscoring the Tigers down the stretch to ensure the victory.
With Florida holding a slight 40-39 lead with just under 15 minutes to play, freshman Haley Lorenzen scored two quick shots in the paint that sparked a game-clinching 18-4 run. With five players scoring in double figures for the Gators, coach Amanda Butler was pleased with the balanced scoring effort that contributed to Florida’s success in the team’s first SEC road victory of the season
“We shot the ball better and that always helps,” Butler said. “No matter what else goes right or wrong, if you shoot the ball well you can overcome 27 turnovers. That’s what we did today. Our players did a good job of really, really being excited every time they had a chance to play defense.”
While Butler would like to see improvement with Florida’s ball control, the Gators made up for the mistakes on the defensive end. Florida forced Auburn to turn the ball over 20 times and limited the Tigers to 33.3-percent shooting in the game, a product of consistent pressure in which Florida has prided itself.
Cassie Peoples, who leads the team in assists and scoring, has struggled with taking care of the ball at times. The redshirt junior also leads the team in turnovers, yet Butler believes the cause of the turnovers isn’t due to a lack of acknowledging what passes are there, but is actually due to Peoples looking to pass when she should take the shot herself.
“Cassie (Peoples) turned the ball over a bunch in the first half, but the second half didn’t and that made a big, big difference,” Butler said. “She started playing more aggressively north and south and stopped looking for people to pass to as much. She used the fact that she was smaller as a weapon. That was a great adjustment by her.”
When Florida shoots the ball well from outside the three-point line, the Gators have had a far easier going dismantling opponents. But often the long-range shots come from passing the ball down low, and then creating enough ball movement to kick the ball back out to the open shooter. Butler has praised the team’s offensive progression throughout the season, saying continued improvement in the paint only leads to more shot success, from anywhere on the court.
“When you look at Haley’s points and Ronni (Williams’) points in particular and maybe even some of Kayla (Lewis’) putbacks, a lot of that was secondary action because we shot the ball so well outside,” Butler said. “That created some passing lanes for us on the low block and we were able to shoot a little closer to the basket. We also did a good job of passing the ball inside. That’s an area where we have been turning the ball over. We turned the ball over in other areas today so we’ll take that as progress.”
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Brooke Copeland attempts a three-point shot during Florida's win against Stetson.
