A season-best 18 points from Lavender Briggs helped Florida end the San Juan Shootout with two wins.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – After picking up a 61-50 over George Washington on Saturday night, Florida women’s basketball completed a perfect weekend at the San Juan Shootout to push their win streak to five-straight.
Lavender Briggs had her best game of the season in Clemente Coliseum, finishing with a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Emanuely de Oliveira also ended in double-figures, tallying 11 points, including a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range.
The seven rebounds from Briggs led the Gator (6-2, 0-0 SEC) effort, but the Colonials (4-3, 0-0 SEC) held 33-30 edge on the glass. In her best game of the season, Floor Toonders added a season-best six rebounds as well. Offensively, Florida ended the evening 24-of-49 (49.0%).
Defensively, Florida forced George Washington into 22 turnovers while recording an impressive 15 steals. Veteran Kiara Smith led the defensive effort with a career-high eight steals. Her eight steals are tied for the third-best performance in Florida history.
George Washington wanted a slow-paced game, and that’s exactly how it started on Saturday night. After going two minutes without a field goal to start the game, Toonders got the offense going with four quick points to start the game.
Briggs quickly put up four points of her own to help give the Gators an 8-6 lead, but the Colonials would answer with four of their own to take a 10-8 advantage. A 7-0 burst from Florida late in the quarter, capped off by a Briggs jumper with 41 seconds left, gave the Orange & Blue a 15-10 advantage.
Owning a 15-12 lead at the end of one, Merritt provided the immediate spark needed to open the game up for the Gators. Following a de Oliveira triple, Merritt went on a 7-0 run of her own to give UF their biggest lead of the night at 25-14. Much of the frame would feature a back-and-forth affair following Merritt’s streak, but free throws by freshman Taliyah Wyche with 1:05 on the clock helped Florida to a 36-25 halftime advantage.
The strong second quarter helped boost the Orange & Blue’s offensive numbers, ending an impressive 14-of-24 (58.3%) for the half and 7-of-11 (63.6%) for the period. Defensively, Florida forced the opposition into 11 first half turnovers while allowing just one three-pointer.
Both squads were quick to start the second half offensively. De Oliveira converted her second triple of the game to start the third, pushing the Florida lead to 12 before both teams would battle to a 7-7 start in the period.
After a Colonial jumper with 6:38 on the clock, Florida would use a 5-0 spurt, including a triple from Briggs for her 14th point, to open the gap to 48-32. Despite going scoreless for three minutes following a Briggs layup, the defensive pressured ensured a strong end to the frame.
Continuing the trend of the season, the opposition was held to just 5-of-20 (25%) from the floor in the third quarter, including one-of-four from deep.
De Oliveira would add an instant dagger to start the final frame of the game, knocking down her career-best third triple of the game to give the Gators a 54-36 lead early. The Colonials would answer with a three of their own, eventually using their momentum to cut the lead down to seven behind a 9-0 run with 5:22 remaining.
Recording her fifth steal of the contest, Smith would put an end to the run with a layup and then record two more steals to retain control of the game and hold on for the 61-50 victory.
The Gators will be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 1, when they make the trek to their third-consecutive Atlantic 10 opponent, George Mason, for a 7 p.m. ET tip.
Postgame Bites
– The 58.3% shooting in the first half was the second-best effort in a half this season, trailing only a 66.7% second half against USC Upstate where the Gators shot over 83% in the third quarter.
– Saturday marked Florida’s best night of the year from behind the arc, shooting 43.8% from deep.
– Briggs now sits at 883 career points.
– Smith is now sitting at 1159 career points, chasing down Haley Lorenzen for 21st in Gator history at 1,214.
– Smith’s eight steals are tied for the third-best defensive performance in Florida history.
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