Florida defeated Missouri 86-70 at Exactech Arena and recorded their eleventh 80+ point win of the 2023-24 season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -Florida defeated the Missouri Tigers 86-70 in a Thursday night home contest. The Gators started hot with a 36-point first quarter and were led on offense by Aliyah Matharu. Matharu hit her career high in scoring with 28-points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field. Leading on the boards for the Gators was Faith Dut with her season high of 11 rebounds.
Florida came out with an eight-point run against Missouri to set the tone early. Aliyah Matharu quickly hit double-digits, securing 11 of Florida’s 36-points in the first quarter allowing the Gators to pull significantly ahead. Florida continued to take shots in the second quarter, recording 19 points and shooting 47.4 percent from the field. Florida increased their 23-point lead to 25 (55-30) to enter the locker room at half.
Aliyah Matharu got the second half started with a driving layup for Florida before Missouri started to increase their offensive pressure. Missouri was able to cut Florida’s lead down to as low as 14-points in the third quarter and slow the Gators down offensively. Leilani Correa snagged a steal to close out the third with Florida ahead 69-49 going into the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Missouri made it a challenging task for Florida to close out the game in the fourth quarter. The Tigers whittled away at the Gators lead, getting it to as low as 10-point margin in the final few minutes of play. However, Aliyah Matharu came through with 13-points in the fourth to secure the Gators 86-70 win over Mizzou.
IN THE FIRST:
* The Gators shot 12-of-12 from the field to start the game
* Florida ended the quarter shooting 15-of-24 from the field (62.5%), and 5-of-9 from the three (55.6%)
* Aliyah Matharu led on offense with 11-points
* Nine of Matharu’s first quarter points came from the three-point line
* Zippy Broughton and Laila Reynolds followed on offense securing six points each
* Florida snagged five steals from Missouri and forced eight turnovers
* The Gators converted Missouri’s turnovers for a total of 20-points
* The Gators doubled Missouri’s rebounds grabbing 10 to Missouri’s five
* Florida was led on the boards by Faith Dut and Jeriah Warren with three apiece
IN THE SECOND:
* Leilani Correa led on offense with seven points, followed by Faith Dut with six
* Florida secured an additional 10 rebounds in the second
* Dut led the Gators on the boards with three
* Dut secured her 25th block of the season
* Zippy Broughton distributed four assists to bring her half total to five
* The Gators forced five more turnovers on Missouri and were only held to two
* Florida totaled 16-points in the paint and recorded four off second chances
* The Gators led 55-30 at the end of the first half
IN THE THIRD:
* Leilani Correa led on offense with six of Florida’s 14-points
* Florida recorded 10-points in the paint and four off rebounds
* The Gators had eight rebounds in the third with Laila Reynolds, Jeriah Warren, and Faith Dut each grabbing two
* Warren snagged her first block of the night and fifth of the season
* The Gators forced another five turnovers on the Tigers
* Florida was ahead 65-49 at the end of the third
IN THE FOURTH:
* Aliyah Matharu led the way with 13-points in the fourth
* Matharu shot 5-of-7 from the field
* Broughton was the only other Gator to put points up on the board with four
* With less than four minutes to play Missouri got the game within in 10-points at 75-65 (3:21)
* The Gators picked up 8 points from inside the paint
* Florida grabbed their game high in rebounds with 12
* Zippy Broughton and Faith Dut led on the boards with three each
* Matharu closed out the contest with a three-point jumper in the last 18 seconds of play
WORTH NOTING:
* Aliyah Matharu set a career high in scoring with 28-points
* Faith Dut hit her career high on the boards with 11-rebounds
* Alberte Rimdal had a season high of two steals
* Zippy Broughton matched her season high in scoring with 18-points
* Broughton also grabbed a season high of six rebounds
* Florida had 36-points in the first quarter, their second highest scoring quarter of the season
* Highest scoring quarter was 37 points at Gardner Webb (12/17)
* The Gators forced 21 turnovers on Missouri and totaled 12 steals
* Florida converted for 33 points off turnovers
* Florida outrebounded Missouri 40 to 31
* Three players secured double-figures in scoring
* Matharu (28)
* Broughton (18)
* Leilani Correa (18)
* The contest marked Florida’s eleventh game of the season scoring 80+ points
TEAM RECORDS:
Florida: 14-11 (5-8 SEC)
Missouri: 11-15 (2-11 SEC)
SERIES RECORD:
With Florida’s Thursday night win over Missouri, the all-time series stands at 11-4 with the Tigers still ahead.
THEY SAID IT:
UF Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/kelly-rae-finley/1658> on Aliyah Matharu and the guards dynamic:
“She’s been really diligent and determined to improve her game. As a coach, I’m really proud of her, I think the team is proud of her. I think when you have her, Leilani, Zip, Alberte, and Laila clicking together, that’s a really hard thing to stop.”
UF senior guard Zippy Broughton on the team effort:
“We started out determined, and something we definitely want to work on is maintaining that throughout all four quarters.”
UF freshman guard Laila Reynold’s on overall Florida Performance:
“I feel like it was just taking the right shots and getting it downhill working together as a team and was finding the right players at the right time”
NEXT UP:
Florida is back on the road for a Sunday afternoon contest against Georgia. The Gators will be traveling to Athens after facing the Tigers Thursday night in the O’Dome.
Georgia averages 64.4 points per game with a 40.8 field goal percentage. On the boards, the Bulldogs average 39.1 rebounds per game with a +1.4 margin to their opponents. Individually, Georgia has been led on offense this season by Javyn Nicholson with 16 points per game.
GEORGIA (11-13, 2-9 SEC):
* Date: Sunday, Feb. 25
* Time: 1 p.m.
* Site: Stegeman Coliseum
* Stream: SECN+<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/57a5e9d9-1e07-4654-8474-a36dbf9425ce>
* Radio: ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM / 850 AM<https://floridagators.com/watch/?Live=5284>
* Stats: StatBroadcast<https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=490553>
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