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The Gator women’s basketball team (9-9) will face off against the number one ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (17-0) tonight in the O’Connell Center. The Gators will be looking to put their three game losing streak to an end as they try to do something they haven’t been able to do in the last 26 years; beat a number one ranked opponent. UF is 0-10 all-time against top ranked foes.
Going into tonight’s game, the Gamecocks have won the last five match ups against the Gators and will be looking to stay undefeated in order to remain atop college basketball’s rankings. As Florida continues to struggle with ball security and inconsistency on both sides of the ball, South Carolina comes into the O’Dome boasting impressive statistics on both ends of the floor.
On offense, the Gamecocks are scoring an average of 78 points per game and are shooting 48 percent from the field. On defense, they’ve allowed an average of just 49 points per game from their opponents and have outrebounded them by an average of about 12.
In their loss against 10th ranked Kentucky on Thursday, the Gators managed to keep up with the Wildcats up until the last five minutes of the game despite turning the ball over 27 times. Although they were fortunate to remain competitive against Kentucky, if they continue to turn the ball over at this pace, an upset over South Carolina will be virtually impossible.
And to make matters worse for Florida, guard Antoinette Bannister has been dismissed from the team after being arrested and charged with using a stolen credit card belonging to a teammate.
