Florida’s strength lies in its resilience.
The Gators women’s basketball team has made a habit of crawling out of holes it has dug itself in.
Despite never leading in regulation, Florida took the Commodores to overtime before eventually falling 76-75 on Thursday night in the O’Connell Center.
Coach Amanda Butler, who has seen her team crumble, fall and fail to be in position to win, said that the Gators executed the game plan well despite the loss.
"I love our fight, love our heart, I love how resilient we are," Butler said. "We put ourselves in position to win over and over again and sometimes the shots fall and sometimes they don’t."
The Commodores, however, had no problem getting their shots to fall in the first half.
Vanderbilt (14-12, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) led from the opening whistle, keeping pace ahead of Florida (12-14, 4-9 SEC) through a barrage of three-pointers that saw the Commodores hit 7-of-9 from long range before the break.
The hot shooting continued from there, with Vanderbilt coming out energized to push the lead to 50-38 over Florida within the opening minutes of the second half.
But Florida, well-versed in putting together a comeback, started locking down on defense and chipping away at the lead before tying the game for the first time at 55-55 with 10:14 left to play.
The Gators had a chance to win it at the regulation buzzer, but January Miller’s driving shot fell short and the teams headed to extra time tied at 69.
After a back-and-forth overtime period that was categorized by free throws, UF put itself in position to win.
But two attempts by Miller in the final 10 seconds were no good and Florida exited the floor heartbroken after letting the comeback chance slip away.
"I felt like I just needed to get a score, since we were only down one so I was trying to at least get a foul," Miller said.
"I thought I was gonna get fouled, but I wasn’t. It happens."
Miller scored 15 points and dished four assists, displaying an improved sense of confidence that was missing in Florida’s earlier Southeastern Conference games.
Ronni Williams led the Gators with 17 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, including a game-high four boards on the offensive end.
Williams said for the Gators to be successful, the team needs to knock down its long-range shots when the paint is impenetrable, as it often was against Vanderbilt.
"That’s what we work on in practice, we play inside out," Williams said. "We get the ball inside when they double in the paint and kick it out to our shooters and they knock it down."
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
