The Gator women’s basketball team (12-13) lost on the road to the Mississippi State Bulldogs (24-4) 75-62 on Sunday afternoon.
Although the Gators did their best to hold their own against the Bulldogs at the beginning of the first half, Mississippi State eventually pulled away and went into halftime leading the Gators by 10 points. Florida never led in the second half as the Bulldogs continued to pile on the points by capitalizing on second chance opportunities and by shooting a whopping 47 percent from beyond the arc.
Gator head coach Amanda Butler acknowledged her team’s inability to keep up with the Bulldogs after the game.
“I thought we did a great job, initially, in the first half of setting the tone…of trying to attack their pressure with pressure and putting it right back on them, you know, but we just weren’t able to sustain it.”
Florida’s lack of rebounding and poor defense were two major factors that contributed to this loss. Bulldog center Martha Alwal dominated the Gators on her way to a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The Gators were also outrebounded by Mississippi State 37-28 and turned the ball over 20 times throughout the game.
“We didn’t contain dribble penetration, which caused a rotation and they threw it over our heads,” said Butler. “We didn’t get transition offense in the second half the way we did in the first half and a lot of that was because we didn’t rebound as aggressively.”
Florida will look to get back on track and improve its 4-8 record in SEC play when they face Vanderbilt at home this Thursday night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 pm, but you can listen to the game live on ESPN 850 WRUF starting at 6:45.
Listen below for the audio mentioned above:
Butler on their first half intensity