The Florida women’s basketball team secured its first win over a ranked opponent this season, defeating No. 24 Georgia 51-48 in Athens on Thursday night.
Florida (12-12, 4-7 Southeastern Conference) had a rough going in the first half, trailing 27-19 heading into the break after going just 7-of-27 from the field.
But the Gators went on a game-changing run in the closing minutes of the second half to upset the Bulldogs (17-8, 5-7 SEC).
With Georgia up 45-36, the Gators went on a shocking 13-0 scoring run that saw the Bulldogs fail to score for more than four minutes.
The Bulldogs’ Erika Ford nailed a three with two seconds remaining to stop the bleeding, cutting Florida’s lead to 49-48.
With Georgia forced to foul, Carlie Needles stepped up and calmly hit two free throws to clinch the comeback and secure Florida’s third SEC road victory. Needles finished the game with 10 points in 34 minutes of action.
Cassie Peoples scored a team-high 11 points, all in the second half, as the redshirt junior used a pair of three-pointers in that critical scoring stretch to push Florida to a victory that seemed impossible as the second half wound down.
Florida continues its swing of road games against ranked opponents when the Gators travel to Starkville, Mississippi, on Sunday to take on No. 13 Mississippi State.
Carlie Needles dribbles the ball down the court during Florida's loss to Missouri on Thursday in the O'Connell Center.
