Sophomore Jordyn Merritt recorded a career-high 23 points to lead the Gators.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the final home contest of the 2021-22 season and senior day, the Gators battled for 40 minutes in Exactech Arena, but fell to Missouri, 78-73, on Sunday afternoon.
Jordyn Merritt led the Gators (20-9, 10-6 SEC) offensively, recording all 23 of her points in the second half for a career-high effort. Kiara Smith and Emanuely de Oliveira also tallied double-figures, ending with 15 and 11 points, respectively. For the game, the Gators shot 24-of-65 (36.95) from the field and 10-of-26 (38.5%) from three-point range.
Missouri (18-11, 7-9 SEC) ended the day shooting 23-of-52 (44.2%) from the floor and 7-of-15 (46.5%) from deep. Florida did manage to force the Tigers into 16 turnovers, resulting in 10 steals led by Kristina Moore with three. The defense helped the Orange & Blue to an 18-17 advantage in points off of turnovers.
On the glass, the visitors held a 41-33 rebounding advantage over the Gators. Merritt led the effort on the home side, pulling down seven boards to go along with her 23 points. Smith added six to her tally, ending the night with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists while de Oliveira grabbed five.
The Tigers were led by Hayley Frank with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
As time wound down in the third quarter, things were looking bleak for the Orange & Blue. A 5-0 run by the Tigers with under a minute left had turned the Missouri lead to 11, but Nina Rickards came up big to give the Gators momentum heading into the fourth by draining a last second triple as time expired, making it 53-45 with one to go.
Despite the momentum shift, Missouri extended their lead to 13 with 6:06 remaining in the game following back-to-back layups from Lauren Hansen. Merritt was undeterred, however, scoring 10-straight points over three minutes to keep the Gators within striking distance at 67-59 with 2:37 remaining on the clock.
Over the remaining two minutes of the game, Smith would join Merritt in the last-attempt effort to pull out a victory, scoring the next seven points to pull within five with just 52 seconds left in the game. Florida’s full-court press made the Tigers uncomfortable, forcing numerous turnovers in the final minute, helping the Gators pull within three at 76-73 with nine seconds left. Missouri would connect on their final free throw attempts, however, to hold on for a 78-73 victory.
The Gators have secured the five-seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament and will face-off on Thursday afternoon, March 3, with the winner of the 12-13 game in the opening round. Thursday’s game will follow game three, which tips at 1 p.m. ET, approximately 25 minutes after it’s conclusion.
Quotables
Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley
On the seniors and the starting lineup…
“I would never change that and it wasn’t a hand out either. It’s really important that they understand and feel all of our support. The support of Gator Nation. I think like they said on the speaker, this senior class will go down as one of the best senior classes to help really rejuvenate our program and take us to places that we hadn’t been in a long time. Both Kristina [Moore] and Manu [de Oliveira] and Kiki [Smith], all three of them have started and played a lot of minutes on this floor. A lot of minutes in hard times and a lot of minutes and have found a lot of success. We owe it to them to celebrate them and the result of the game isn’t going to hinder our ability to do that.”
On the defensive performance…
“I thought that we, I mean these guys can talk about probably just as well as I can, not sure that we were understanding that the ball scores points sometimes. Late in the game what helped us was just understanding you need to rotate and scramble and make the next play. We really focused on that all season and to lose sight of that these last two games, to get stuck and hung up on a possession or a play and not go onto the next play within the play is not characteristic of us. Unfortunately, it has been in the last couple competitions and so that’s something we’re going to have to re-evaluate and look at on film.”
Graduate Guard Kiara Smith
On moving into the postseason…
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy. I think we definitely got to have a hard talk, a hard conversation. We definitely have to get tougher. But I feel like the team’s response is going to be the proper response. And like I said earlier we’re all competitive, we all want it. There’s not one person on this team that’s not going to fade away from the opportunity, but we just have to understand the opportunity better. I don’t think as a team we understand what it is we’re really trying to do and I think that a hard conversation does need to happen. You know, a reality check because what we’re going into now isn’t going to be any easier. But I definitely think that we’re going to get in the gym and we’re going to get better for sure.”
On what it means to be a Florida Gator…
“I think for me it kind of hits a little differently just because, I mean, where I’m at right now a lot of people wouldn’t have thought I would’ve gotten here. Before, I had the opportunity to leave or had the opportunity to not even take another COVID year, but I knew that I saw something in the team and Kelly, and I wanted to be a part of that. So, to be a part, like we talk about in the gym, to be a part of what could be possibly the best women’s basketball team at Florida especially. Like Manu said, I’m grateful that I stayed here. I’m grateful that I got to do it with them and you know get all the cool shoes and stuff.
Senior Forward Emanuely de Oliveira
On the three-game slide…
“Honestly, I just think it gets to the end of the season and it becomes harder and harder for us. We never looked at the wins and losses. I think we have to regroup, refocus. Whatever it is that it takes for us to get better we have to do it, you know, focus on the next game. We don’t have time to get our heads down.”
On what it means to be a Florida Gator…
“That’s a hard question. I’m for sure grateful for all the opportunities and for everything that they did even when I was home. I for sure missed this and I’m forever grateful, that’s all I have to say.”
– #GoGators –
