Kiara Smith led the Gators with an 18-point effort.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Florida women’s basketball fell to Vanderbilt in their final road contest of the regular season, 63-59, on a rainy Thursday evening in Nashville.
Kiara Smith led the Gators’ (20-8, 10-5 SEC) offensive effort, tallying 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. Zippy Broughton and Nina Rickards each ended in double-figures, finishing with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
From the floor, Florida shot 24-of-64 (37.5%) and finished the night 7-of-24 (29.2%) from three-point range. The Commodores (13-16, 4-11 SEC) ended their evening 25-of-55 (45.5%) from the field and just 2-of-11 (18.2%).
On the glass, the Orange & Blue held the advantage, outrebounding the home squad 39-35 en route to a 12-10 edge in second chance points. Smith’s seven boards led the way while freshman Taliyah Wyche added six and Broughton ended with five.
A key factor in Thursday’s result, Florida turned the ball over 28 times leading to a 28-15 Commodore advantage in points off of turnovers. The Gators’ defense was no slouch, however, forcing Vandy into 21 turnovers and 14 steals, led by Smith with six.
Vanderbilt found the bucket first on Thursday evening, but their lead wouldn’t last long as a 6-0 spurt from the Gators immediately followed, four of the points coming off of beautiful passes from Smith to the interior. Both teams struggled offensively to the media timeout, however, with the Gators starting 3-of-8 from the floor and the Commodores beginning just 1-of-6.
The offensive difficulties continued for the Gators following the media break as Vanderbilt held Florida scoreless for over four minutes and used a 10-0 run to take a 12-8 advantage. Emanuely de Oliveira put an end to the Commodore run, battling through contact to convert an and-one layup and pull back within three. Vanderbilt would again respond to take a 16-9 lead into the second quarter.
Momentum remained on the opposition’s side to start the second with Vandy extending their lead to nine points. A veteran presence, Smith turned up the defensive intensity and used back-to-back steals and buckets to pull back within 18-13. Vanderbilt’s lead would peak at 10 in the frame before a 10-4 spurt from the Orange & Blue closed the gap to 31-27 at halftime.
Florida struggled with Vanderbilt’s zone during the first half, as the Commodores owed much of their success to forcing 16 UF turnovers, leading to an 18-4 points off of turnovers advantage for the home squad. The Gators were able to use improved shooting late in the second quarter to end the half 12-of-28 (42.9%). Defensively, UF held Vanderbilt to 13-of-35 shooting (37.1%).
The Gators wasted no time evening the game to start the second half, using consecutive layups from Smith and Broughton to tie the game at 31 with just under nine minutes on the clock. Just about a minute later, Broughton would give them their first lead since the first quarter with a triple to make it 32-31. Both squads continued to trade buckets late into the quarter, but it would be Smith who would give Florida a two-point lead with 3:32 on the clock after connecting on a contested layup, the first time in since the nine-minute mark that either team had led by more than one.
After Vanderbilt tied the game once again at 41, Rickards knocked down a triple at the 2:23 mark to extend the lead to three, but Vanderbilt would hold control heading into the final period, ending the half with a 7-2 flurry to take a 48-46 lead.
Two quick scores gave Vanderbilt a 52-46 lead just 1:52 into the fourth. The Commodores’ lead would peak at eight until Broughton drained a triple on the left wing to make the score 54-49 in favor of Vanderbilt with 6:53 remaining.
Vanderbilt would again pull ahead by eight following a layup with 2:20 left, but another Broughton three, followed by a scoop-and-score from Rickards, pulled the Orange & Blue to within three at 59-56 with just 1:50 remaining. With under 30 seconds remaining, the Commodores held a 61-56 lead before Smith drained a straight-on three to make it a two-point contest with 10 seconds on the clock. Vanderbilt held on, however, for a 63-59 win.
The Gators will be back in action on Sunday, Feb. 27, when they welcome Missouri to Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for senior day and a noon ET tip.
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