Florida’s game against South Carolina on Thursday night started well enough.
At the end of one quarter, the No. 16 Gators trailed the No. 2 Gamecocks by just three points.
But after a seven-minute scoring drought to open the second quarter, the Gamecocks built a comfortable lead and cruised to another Southeastern Conference victory, 86-71.
While the Gators kept it close in the game’s early going, it felt like the matchup was teetering toward South Carolina from the start.
Florida got lucky on some missed South Carolina shots and uncharacteristic miscues and was able to stay afloat because of the play of guard Cassie Peoples.
The redshirt senior scored eight points in the first quarter, providing a spark off the bench.
But suddenly, despite hanging with the Gamecocks (23-1, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) early, the Gators (19-5, 7-4 SEC) went cold to start the second quarter.
Unable to score a point in the period until the 3:36 mark, Florida dug itself into a 19-point hole.
Against a team as talented as South Carolina, a hole that big is usually insurmountable.
It didn’t help Florida’s cause that the Gamecocks shot 49.1 percent from the field, including 42.1 percent from three-point range, in the game.
"You’ve gotta give South Carolina a lot of credit. They shot the ball great tonight and that’s something that they haven’t done all year from the three-point line," UF head coach Amanda Butler said.
With a 12-point lead at the break, South Carolina maintained the gap in the second half, not allowing Florida to get closer than eight points for the remainder of the game.
UF’s struggles stemmed from its playmakers — namely Ronni Williams, Simone Westbrook and Eleanna Christinaki — being non-factors.
Williams, Florida’s leading scorer, contributed seven points on 3-of-12 shooting in the loss.
Westbrook added five, while Christinaki went for four and fouled out.
With the normal scorers not cutting it, Florida had to rely on its bench.
Senior Carla Batchelor, a role player who serves primarily as a backup for Williams when she gets into foul trouble, led Florida in scoring for the first time in her career with 19 points.
"I thought Carla was just aggressive," Butler said.
"She just went real confidently and aggressively and shot the ball pretty well."
In addition to playmakers not making plays, Florida’s post players couldn’t grab rebounds.
The Gamecocks dominated the Gators on the glass, grabbing 44 boards to Florida’s 30.
"Rebounding, obviously, was critical," Butler said.
"You can’t allow a team that’s as good at that to do something they’re that good at."
With the win, the Gamecocks bounced back from a rare loss to No. 1 Connecticut while Florida came back down to earth following back-to-back wins over ranked teams.
While no loss is a good loss, Butler believes there are lessons to be learned from this game that can be applied to the rest of the season.
"We’ll have a lot of lessons on film to be able to grow from," Butler said.
"We were just too reserved in some spots with our defense and also with our offense."
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Florida's Carla Batchelor attempts a layup during UF's 85-79 win over Kentucky on Jan. 31, 2016, in the O'Connell Center.
