"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px;">
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">It
wasn’t supposed to be like this. The Florida women’s basketball
team currently sits at 12-9, just 2-5 in the Southeastern
Conference, and is on a miserable four-game losing streak.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Thanks to five losses of six points or less, including two
one-point letdowns and a two-point defeat, the Gators’ season has
turned from potential success story to a question of what could’ve
been.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
What if Kayla Lewis’ last-second tip-in against DePaul wasn’t waved
off?
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
What if the Gators found a way to pull out a win in
Tallahassee?
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
But the biggest ‘if’ of all: What if Florida had finished the job
against Kentucky and Georgia?
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Those questions surely linger in the minds of Florida fans, and
whether or not they admit it, they are in the minds of UF’s coaches
and players.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Freshman Jaterra Bonds said she and her teammates think about
it.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
But coach Amanda Butler tried to deny that notion.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
“You really can’t (think like that),” Butler said. “(You can) for
entertainment, because it has no value past that. As much as we
earned those 12 wins, we also earned those nine losses.”
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
But in analyzing the Gators’ next opponent, Butler did some
theorizing of her own.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">On
Alabama’s winless start to conference play, Butler said, “0-7 means
nothing, just like we look at our record at 2-5 and know we could
just as easily be 4-3 or 5-2. You can go out in November and
December and beat up a lot of different people, but when you get in
league play it’s real easy to find yourself in a losing
streak.”
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
And that is exactly where the Gators find themselves.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
The streak has dropped UF to 10th in the conference standings, but
Florida will try to begin clawing its way out of the SEC cellar
tonight at 7 in O’Connell Center when it hosts Alabama (11-9, 0-7
SEC).
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Alabama, led by senior forward Tierney Jenkins who averages 16.4
points and 10.3 rebounds per game, is one of only two teams yet to
notch a win in the SEC.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Despite ‘Bama’s struggles, Florida has reason to not overlook this
matchup, junior guard Jordan Jones said. The Crimson Tide won just
four conference games last season, and two came at the expense of
the Gators – including a 66-61 win in Gainesville on Senior
Day.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Jones, one of the few upperclassmen on UF’s roster, said she is
using the memories from those games to instill a sense of urgency
among the young players who may still be reeling from the recent
losing streak.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
“As the older guys, we’re going to make sure we let the younger
guys know that they’ve had our number,” Jones said. “They’re going
to be confident coming in. We have to make sure from the beginning
… that we stop that real quick.”
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Butler said playing in the SEC, and against four of the five
top-ranked conference opponents in succession, has produced one of
the toughest schedules imaginable.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
“But you can look at it that way and give yourself a way out, an
excuse for where we’re standing,” Butler said. “Or, you can just be
really mad and disappointed and motivated by the fact that we
shouldn’t be where we are right now. We should have got a few more
wins than we did.”
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
The Gators now enter a three-game run against teams all at the
bottom of the standings, and one more “if” stands in their
path.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Butler and Jones both acknowledged that everything – from ending
the four-game snide to attaining the team’s preseason goals – rides
on the next few games.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
“There’s not any question about that,” Butler said.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
“We have to change the season around,” Jones agreed. “It’s now or
never. We have to start getting some wins.”
