Florida falls to Alabama after a final push in the fourth quarter. The Gators were led by Leilani Correa with her ninth 20+ point outing of the season.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Florida was edged Thursday night 76-73 by Alabama. The Gators trailed for the majority of their road contest but came back in the final minutes of the fourth to make it a tall task for Alabama to close out. Overall the Gators were led by Leilani Correa with a 22-point performance.
The Gators opened up with a 19-point first quarter, shooting 57.1 percent from the field but were ultimately outscored by Alabama 25-19. Florida was then held to a game low of 11 points in the second quarter. Leilani Correa and Alberte Rimdal secured five points each, but the Gators were challenged inside the paint only notching two points. After 20 minutes the score was 42-30 with a 12-point Gators deficit.
To initiate the second half, Florida secured 13 points in three minutes. The Gators put up an additional nine to make it their highest scoring quarter of the game. Entering the fourth, Florida was trailing 61-52 to the Crimson Tide. In the final ten minutes of play Florida whittled away at Alabama’s lead, even grabbing a one-point advantage with 1:53 left on the clock (71-70). Alabama immediately took the lead back and finished the contest out 76-73 over the Gators.
IN THE FIRST:
* Aliyah Matharu recorded the first four points of the contest with a driving layup and pull-up jumper (4-0)
* The Gators were shooting 67% from the field for the first five minutes of play
* Leilani Correa led Florida on offense with 10 points
* Correa went 4-of-5 from the field
* Matharu followed with seven points
* 12 of Florida’s 19 first quarter points were in the paint
* The Gators forced six turnovers on Alabama in the first
* Jeriah Warren and Matharu both snagged a steal for the Gators
* At the end of the first the score stood at 25-19 with Florida behind by six
IN THE SECOND:
* The Gators were held to 11 points in the second
* Alberte Rimdal and Leilani Correa grabbed five points each to lead Florida
* Florida ended the quarter with 10 bench points and two points off turnovers
* The Gators increased their board action with nine rebounds in the second
* Eriny Kindred led under the rim with four rebounds
* Zippy Broughton distributed two assists for the Gators
* Florida grabbed an additional two steals to bring their half total to four
* Going into halftime Florida was down 42-30
IN THE THIRD:
* Florida scored 13 points in the first three minutes of the quarter
* Jeriah Warren led on the boards with three rebounds
* Florida distributed five assists–their most of the game
* The Gators totaled 22 points in the third, their game high
* Aliyah Matharu led in scoring with eight points
* Matharu was 2-of-3 from the three
* Florida had an eight-point scoring run, their best of the game (6:59)
* The Gators closed out the quarter shooting 80 percent from the three
IN THE FOURTH:
* The Gators tied the game up at 69 all with a three-point jumper from Zippy Broughton
* Florida secured a one-point lead 71-70 with less than two minutes on the clock
* Florida forced three turnovers on Alabama and converted for five points
* Eriny Kindred led on the boards with four of the team’s 11 rebounds
* The Gators closed out shooting 50 percent from the field (7-14) and 75 percent from the three (3-of-4)
* Broughton led on offense with nine points in the final quarter
WORTH NOTING:
* Eriny Kindred secured 10 rebounds to set her career high
* Leilani Correa recorded her ninth 20+ point game of the season
* Leilani Correa secured her 24th double-digit outing this season
* The Gators had four players in double-figures for scoring
* Correa (22)
* Aliyah Matharu (16)
* Zippy Broughton (12)
* Alberte Rimdal (10)
* Zippy Broughton shot 100 percent from the three-point line went 4-of-4 from the three
* The Gators outscored Alabama in both the third and fourth quarter
* Third: 22-19
* Fourth 21-15
* The Gators totaled 13 assists and were led by Broughton and Jeriah Warren with four apiece
* Florida finished out with 24 points in the paint and 22 points off turnovers
TEAM RECORDS:
Florida: 14-13 (5-10 SEC)
Alabama: 21-11 (10-7 SEC)
SERIES RECORD:
The current series between Florida and Alabama is in favor of Alabama at 32-30.
NEXT UP:
The Gators will return home for a Sunday afternoon contest against Auburn. Florida will tip-off in the O’Dome at 12 p.m. and the game will be aired on SEC Network. Florida’s Sunday matchup against the Tigers will mark their final game of the 2023-24 regular season.
Overall Auburn is led in scoring by Honesty Scott-Grayson with an average of 17.8 points per game. Honesty is currently ranked third in the SEC for scoring in all games and is second to Leilani Correa in scoring for conference play. Scott-Grayson is also the only Tiger averaging double-figures for scoring and has accumulated over double the amount of points this season (464) in comparison to Auburn’s second highest scorer, JaMya Mingo-Young with 225 (9.4 ppg).
Defensively, the Tigers’ are led by Taylen Collins averaging 6.5 rebounds a game. Collins also leads Auburn with a season total of 45 steals, and 19 blocks. With 76 offensive rebounds this season, Collins ranks eighth in the SEC.
AUBURN (17-10, 6-8 SEC):
* Date: Sunday, Mar. 3
* Time: 12 p.m.
* Site: Exactech Arena
* Stream: SECN<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b7ee1b75-62dd-4f5e-afa9-c57cacc9aac2>
* Radio: ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM / 850 AM<https://floridagators.com/watch/?Live=5284>
* Stats: StatBroadcast<https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=490554>
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