The Gators faced another heartbreaking loss on Sunday afternoon, falling 81-77 to Kentucky. Florida was led by Zippy Broughton in scoring with an 18-point performance to mark her season high.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Florida fell on the road to Kentucky in a back and forth battle. The final score was 81-77, with the Wildcats securing the win in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Gators were led by Zippy Broughton with an 18-point outing, followed by Aliyah Matharu with 16-points. Faith Dut grabbed eight rebounds to lead Florida on the boards.
The Gators got off to a slower offensive start than usual and were held to 17-points in the both the first and second quarter. Florida was led on offense in the first half by Alberte Rimdal with nine points and Faith Dut led on the boards with six rebounds. In the final five minutes of the first half, the game was tied on four different occasions, proving to be a back and forth battle in Rupp Arena. Ultimately, it was Kentucky that pulled ahead with a 36-34 lead going into the locker room at half.
Florida needed to garner a more aggressive second half on all ends of the court. In the first 20 seconds of the third quarter Florida understood the task at hand with back-to-back driving layups and forcing a foul to regain the lead at 39-36. Florida continued to press offensively with their highest lead of the quarter standing at eight (60-52). Going into the final quarter of play, Florida was ahead 60-54.
The final quarter mirrored the previous three with fluctuating leads between Florida and Kentucky. The Gators led for the entirety of the quarter until Kentucky pulled ahead with three minutes left on the game clock (74-71). From there the Gators were faced with yet another fourth quarter tall task. The Wildcats momentum continued, outscoring the Gators 27-17 in the final quarter to solidify the 81-77 win.
IN THE FIRST:
* Florida’s first four points came off driving layups from Laila Reynolds and Alberte Rimdal
* The Gators outrebounded Kentucky 11 to six
* The Gators had eight points in the paint, four off turnovers, and three from rebounds
* Florida forces six turnovers on the Wildcats in the initial 10-minutes
* Aliyah Matharu led in scoring with six points, followed by Alberte Rimdal with four
* Matharu grabbed two of Florida’s four steals with Leilani Correa and Jeriah Warren securing the other two
* Faith Dut snagged four rebounds to lead the Gators
* Florida closed out the quarter shooting 46.7-percent
IN THE SECOND:
* The Gators were led by Alberte Rimdal in scoring with five-points
* Eriny Kindred led on the boards with three of the team’s nine rebounds
* Florida recorded an additional eight points in the paint to get their total half total to 16
* Faith Dut recorded her 34th block of the season
* Jeriah Warren snagged both of the Gators’ second quarter steals
* The game was tied at 25 all with four minutes to go in the half
* The score would be tied three more times before the quarter closed
* Florida trailed by two entering half-time (36-34)
IN THE THIRD:
* The Gators hit their game high in scoring with 26-points
* Florida increased their points in the paint to 14 in the third
* Zippy Broughton and Jeriah Warren led in scoring with six points each
* Broughton shot 100-percent from the field and the free-throw line
* Jeriah Warren snagged three of the Gators five steals
* Broughton distributed three of Florida’s five assists
* Florida outrebounded Kentucky 10 to 7
* Warren led on the boards with four
* Florida ended the third shooting 61.5-percent from the field (8-13)
* The Gators held a six-point lead at the end of the third (60-54)
IN THE FOURTH:
* The Gators saw another 17-point quarter in the fourth
* Zippy Broughton led in scoring with six-points
* Florida recorded their game high in blocks with three
* Aliyah Matharu distributed three assists
* The Gators recorded an additional 14-points in the paint
* The game was tied at 69 all with less than five minutes on the game clock
* It would be even once more at 71 all
* From there the Wildcats would lead for the remainder of the game
* Kentucky’s largest lead of the game was in the final 15 seconds of play
WORTH NOTING:
* Zippy Broughton set her season high of 18-points
* Broughton also hit her season high in free throws (6) and field goals (6)
* Jeriah Warren tied her career high in steals with six
* Eriny Kindred secured her career high in assists with three
* Florida totaled 44 points in the paint compared to Kentucky’s 40
* The Gators recorded 12 points from turnovers and six off second chances
* Florida secured a total of 35 rebounds and were led on the boards by Faith Dut with eight
* Defensively Florida had 11 steals and five blocks
* The Gators were called for 29 fouls-their highest amount of the season
TEAM RECORDS:
Florida: 13-11 (4-8 SEC)
Kentucky: 10-16 (3-9 SEC)
SERIES RECORD:
The series between Florida and Kentucky now stands at 33-24. The Wildcats will continue to lead over the Gators by nine victories.
KELLY RAE SAID:
UF Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley on the emotions of the game and overall thoughts:
“Coming off an emotional game like we did a couple nights ago is tough, it’s really tough and that was something that we talked about and what it was going to take to put our best foot forward. I thought our offensive scoring in the third quarter was pretty on par for how we want to play, defensively I’m not sure that we ever got to the place that we wanted to be at tonight.”
NEXT UP:
Florida will return home for a Thursday night contest against Missouri. The Tigers will be coming to Gainesville after facing the Razorback Sunday afternoon in Fayetteville. Missouri’s trip to the O’Dome will be their second consecutive road game, giving the Gators a slight advantage on their home court.
Missouri averages 71.7-points per game with a 44.6 field goal percentage. On the boards, the Tigers average 36.5 rebounds per game with a 0.1 margin to their opponents 36.4. Individually, Missouri has been led on offense this season by Hayley Frank with 17.5 points per game. There are two other Tigers averaging in double figures in scoring: Ashton Judd (13.4 ppg), and Grace Slaughter (11.6).
MISSOURI (11-13, 2-9 SEC):
* Date: Thursday, Feb. 22
* Time: 5 p.m.
* Site: Exactech Arena
* 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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