The
Gators benefitted from two standout performances from guards Jordan
Jones and Jaterra Bonds in Friday's opening round victory in the
Women's National Invitation Tournament.
But the real star of the Florida's win over UMBC was the lockdown
defense it played down the stretch.
Florida (19-14, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) held UMBC (20-12, 13-3
America East) to just 15 points off four field goals in the second
half and didn't allow a single Retrievers point in the final 6:25
of a 59-47 win Friday night in the O'Connell Center.
"I think that was the change in everything," coach Amanda Butler
said. "As hard as we worked on our defense this past week, we fell
short of the defensive effort we expected in the first 20
minutes."
The Retrievers capitalized early on UF's mistakes and had 15 points
off 11 Florida turnovers at intermission. Florida also struggled
stopping the combo of center Tope Obajolu and guard Erin
Brown.
Obajolu racked up 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Brown had nine
points on three 3-pointers before halftime.
UMBC shot 53.8 percent and held a one-point advantage at half.
Obajolu opened the second with a jumper in the paint and UMBC went
on a 7-0 run in the first 1:58.
"Certainly, I think we gave them a scare going up eight in the
second half," UMBC coach Phil Stern said.
But Florida's full-court pressure began to catch up with
UMBC.
The Gators' pressure forced the Retrievers out of their comfort
zone of playing at a slower pace.
"They tried to speed us up, which is what they should do," Stern
said. "They're deeper than us and bigger, faster, stronger, so in
the end I think they just wore us down."
After UMBC extended its lead to 39-31 it went nearly four and a
half minutes without a point and Florida began to roll.
Bonds drained a 3-pointer in transition after a steal by Deana
Allen, and Jones scored the Gators next seven points - and 10 of
their next 13 - thanks to three steals.
Florida went on a 20-3 run over the span of just more than six
minutes, turning an eight-point deficit into a nine-point lead, and
Butler said the defense played a key role.
"I felt like what kind of got our feet back on the ground was our
zone defense, which we stretched out the full length of the court,"
Butler said.
The Gators stayed aggressive on defense through constant player
rotation, and the Retrievers couldn't keep up with only six players
seeing action.
"We wanted to just keep freshness because we didn't want that tempo
or our defensive intensity to drop at all," Butler said. "We were
trying to use our bench to our advantage."
Bonds is a prime example of that. The freshman played 32 minutes
off the bench, scoring 13 points and only turning the ball over
twice.
Coupled with Jones, the two guards stepped up on a night the post
players struggled. Jones finished with a game-high 18 points on
6-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
"This time of the year it's win or go home," Jones said. "I think
there's definitely a different mindset. I enjoy this. I enjoy the
pressure of just coming out here and knowing we have to win to
advance."
The Gators play Florida Gulf Coast (27-3, 17-3 Atlantic Sun) on
Monday at 7 p.m. in Fort Myers.
