Junior forward Jennifer George and senior guard Jordan Jones have carried Florida’s offense this season and Thursday’s win over Ole Miss was more of the same.
Scoring 18 points each, George and Jones led the Gators to their first Southeastern Conference win of the season in a 59-55 road victory against the Rebels.
Ole Miss (10-5, 0-2 SEC) began the contest on an 11-2 run before Florida (11-4, 1-1 SEC) rallied with a 16-2 run that gave it the lead for good.
UF’s defense kept the game competitive in the early going despite the rough start, according to coach Amanda Butler.
“It certainly didn’t feel like that our offense was working especially good consistently,” she said.
“We want to be a program that our success is rooted in our defense because you just can’t account whether the ball’s going to fall your way or not.”
Along with Jones, George paced the Gators with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, picking up her seventh consecutive double-double.
However, George began the night cold, going scoreless until the 8:41 mark in the first half and recording three turnovers in the game’s first three minutes.
“She took a lot of contact and handled that with a lot of poise and composure and made big plays,” Butler said. “She really came around after really being challenged.”
Jones’ 18 points came on a 67 percent shooting clip that included a 4-of-7 mark from beyond the arc.
A transition trey from Jones clinched the game for Florida at the 3:13 mark, opening up a 58-51 lead after Ole Miss had shrunk a deficit of nine to four points.
“We would have been screaming at her if she didn’t shoot it,” Butler said. “She had shot the ball well, she’s gotten great reps coming into this ball game, and she was really good shooting the ball in shootaround.”
The Gators had two opportunities to put the game away when they opened separate 11-point leads late in the first half and early in the second half.
However, the Rebels nearly erased both deficits, rattling off 7-0 and 8-1 runs, respectively.
Ole Miss made it a one-possession game at 47-44 with 11:17 remaining, but Florida held onto the lead throughout, securing the four-point win.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
