The UF women's basketball team will look to send off its five seniors with a win in Sunday's Senior Day matchup against Alabama.
Lonnika Thompson, Sharielle Smith, Steffi Sorensen, Jennifer Mossor and Susan Yenser will grace the O’Connell Center floor for the last time as the Gators try to split their season series with the Crimson Tide.
The seniors will be sporting “Fab Five” wristbands and aiming to erase a bad memory.
Florida (14-14, 7-8 Southeastern Conference) will look to finish at .500 in regular-season conference play and end an up-and-down season on a high note. One of those lows came the last time the team played the Crimson Tide.
UA (11-16, 3-11 SEC) embarrassed the Gators in Tuscaloosa 82-58 on Jan. 21. Alabama entered that game with zero conference wins, entrenched in the SEC basement, before losing leading scorer Varisia Raffington for the season with a knee injury.
Still, UF was denied by the Tide and Tierney Jenkins. Always a double-double threat, Jenkins — who went into that game averaging 10.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game — exploded for 28 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.
Since then, UA has accrued only two more conference wins and is still lodged in the conference cellar, but Jenkins’ numbers have improved.
She averages a full point more per contest, and her 9.5 boards a game lead the SEC.
Three of the five seniors being celebrated started out their college careers at different institutions. Thompson, Sorensen and Yenser all swapped their previous garb for Orange and Blue.
Thompson, the point guard, arrived in Gainesville after Hurricane Katrina led her to Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas.
Sorensen, the team’s leading scorer, came from nearby Santa Fe College after transferring from Florida Gulf Coast.
Yenser, the team’s oldest player, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Management on Dec. 19 and is currently working on her master’s degree. She came to UF after a stint at Clemson.
Sharielle Smith and Jennifer Mossor are the only two seniors who were on the team prior to coach Amanda Butler’s arrival. They were freshmen when the women’s basketball program was in the dumps, tying a school-worst record by going 9-22, and 2-12 in the SEC.
In a group that has as many miles as it does experiences, these seniors will be fueled by disappointment to avoid a more painful sting on their biggest day.
