Gators seek revenge against Missouri Thursday night at home

Coach Amanda Butler and the Gator women’s basketball team s (10-10, 2-5) look to keep Sunday’s momentum going Thursday night at home against Missouri. The Gators are coming off of a 72-58 home win against Arkansas.

The win against Arkansas marked Butler’s 150^th win as Gator head coach, ended a three game losing streak, and it pushed the team’s record to .500. January Miller and Carlie Needles led the team in points with 16 each, followed by Haley Lorenzen with 12, and Kayla Lewis with 10.

“It was really, really important for us to get that win. They deserved to win. They knew they were going to have to perform to get the win and it was exciting to see them do that,” said Butler.

Despite the win against Arkansas, the team has struggled with SEC opponents this season, winning only two out of seven conference games. One of those losses came against Missouri on January 11^th in Columbia. Missouri was led by Morgan Eye, who scored 18.

The Gators struggled offensively shooting only 23% from the field the entire game in the 66-47 loss. A big part of the poor performance was due to not having Needles on the court.

“The obvious things you think about when you don’t have Carlie on the floor is her energy, her leadership, her shooting, her consistency” said Butler. “She brings all of those things. The intangibles are all of the things we missed from not having Carlie in the last game. She didn’t even make the trip so we didn’t have her energy on the bench, her leadership in the locker room.”

Thursday night the Gators will be playing to throw their record above .500, and to top Missouri for the first time since the teams began playing in the SEC. You can catch coverage of the game right here on ESPN 850 WRUF, with coverage beginning at 6:45. Tip-off is set for 7.