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The Gator women’s basketball team improved to 5-1 on the season after beating the Virginia Tech Hokies 73-44 Monday night in Gainesville. The story of the game was the Gators’ hot shooting from the field combined with their stifling defense.
The Gators shot 47 percent from the field and a whopping 53 percent from beyond the arc. The team was led on the offensive end by guard Cassie Peoples. She scored 19 points as she caught fire from 3-point range (5-6) and also had four assists and five steals.
“You know, I haven’t really been shooting too well from the 3-point line this year, but I got into the gym a little bit extra,” said Peoples. “I shot like 200 before the game today, so that helped…got me a little bit more comfortable. And as far as assists, I try to get into the paint and kick out and, you know, my team is pretty good about finishing and picking their spots.”
Guard Kayla Lewis also added 15 points and shot 54 percent (6 of 11) from the field as she heated up from mid-range.
“Well, we worked all week in our prep about getting into the middle and I think that’s just kinda a part of my game. It’s just finding my spots, finding the little holes in the defense. And their zone was open in the middle, so we worked really hard on slipping in,” said Lewis. “So, I just followed the game plan, like Cassie said, she got in the gym and got some threes up. We just followed the game plan. They’re gonna give you the three, they’re gonna give you the middle, so it was just a means of executing and hitting those shots.”
The Gators dominated on the defensive end by forcing the Hokies into 24 turnovers and holding them to just 31 percent shooting from the field. Prior to this game, the Hokies had been shooting 47 percent from the field on the road. The Gators also held the Hokies 22 points below their scoring average for the season.
Gator coach Amanda Butler says she was glad to see them implement everything they’d been working on in practice into an actual game.
“I’m just really proud of the way we played defense today. It’s something we’ve been harping on and really trying to work on,” said Butler. “I thought we did a great job of the things we’ve been working on in practice, carrying those over to the game floor.”
The Gators will try to keep their winning streak going when they face Savannah State in Georgia this Thursday. Tipoff is set from 6 pm but you can catch the game live on ESPN 850 WRUF starting at 5:45.
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Guard Cassie Peoples on her hot shooting
