Sometimes the sign of a good team is winning easily against lesser opponents.
Right now, No. 23 UF (10-1) is doing just that. The Gators continued to play above the rim in their 77-55 domination of Florida A&M (4-3) on Friday night.
The Gators also extended their winning streak to 10 games.
UF coach Amanda Butler attributes her team's ability to put away its lesser opponents in the last two games (Coppin State on Wednesday the other win) to being more focused at this point in the season.
"I would like to think that that was one of the reasons why we played such a fantastic first half," Butler said. "We've seen now that when we are really focused and really intense and really set the tone to start a ballgame, we can be a really, really good team."
Guard Jennifer Mossor helped start the engine early by attacking the basket and finding open players. She finished with 7 points and four assists.
"That's the key to the whole team's game is that we come out the first four minutes aggressive," Mossor said. "When we win the first four minutes, we do good the rest of the game."
The crowd took a deep breath early on as Sha Brooks dove through some of her coaches sitting on the bench to try to save a loose ball and came up gimpy.
The senior guard reentered the game just a couple minutes later and provided the spark the Gators needed to open up the lead.
UF led by just 10 points nearing the eight-minute mark of the first half when Brooks nailed back-to-back threes to put the Gators up 32-16 and start the rout.
"We've gotten better at jackin' up the level of intensity and keeping it there," Butler said.
UF now sets up a showdown in its next game against No. 16 Pittsburgh on Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. in the O'Connell Center.
After enduring a busy schedule over the last few weeks, the Gators will get eight days off to prepare for the Panthers and finish up final exams before facing their biggest test of the season.
"Just by the responses that I got in the locker room … about the challenge that we have in Pitt, I don't think it's going to be very hard to get them focused and ready for that ballgame," Butler said.
