Kayla Lewis made a layup with 8:15 remaining in the first half to extend Florida’s lead to six on Thursday night.
Unfortunately for UF, it did not make another shot for more than six minutes.
FSU (2-0) scored 28 of the next 30 points to finish the half and stormed past Florida (2-1) 98-67 in the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee.
“[The Seminoles] played like the team that they are — seniors with a couple of juniors,” coach Amanda Butler said. “We looked like all freshmen, unfortunately, with no upperclassmen.”
The Gators led by as many as nine points in the first half before a rash of turnovers and a sudden inability to make shots flipped the momentum to the Seminoles. UF turned the ball over six times and missed six field goal attempts during Florida State’s 28-2 run to end the first half.
A transition layup by Jennifer George accounted for the only two first-half points the Gators scored after Lewis’ layup.
“We just didn’t have enough composure,” George said. “All of a sudden they had a push, and we didn’t react well to it.”
Said Butler: “They just outplayed us for the rest of the ball game.”
After halftime, the Gators couldn’t make a run to erase their daunting deficit.
A pair of three-pointers by Leonor Rodriguez early in the second half extended FSU’s lead to 25, all but sealing the game.
Rodriguez paced the Seminoles with a game-high 21 points. Three other Seminoles scored in double figures as Florida State shot 54.9 percent from the floor.
In its two previous wins, Florida held opponents to an average of 57 points on 33.8 percent shooting.
“The disappointing part of this was not who scored or who didn’t score,” Butler said. “We gave up 98 points, and that’s not just bad but embarrassing for a team that’s supposed to be hanging their hat on defense.”
Butler said the team’s main focus in practice this weekend will be on defense, which appeared scattered and disorganized for much of the second half.
George again led the way for UF offensively, scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds. She was active early but unable to pick up the slack for the rest of her teammates, who couldn’t consistently get her the ball in the post during FSU’s decisive run.
“I thought she really battled in the paint,” Butler said.
Overall, Butler was irritated with her team’s deficiencies.
“All the way around it is something we have to learn from,” Butler said. “Obviously, we were very exposed.”
