Editor's Note: This is the first of a five-part series as we reveal who a six-man alligatorSports panel has voted as the Top 10 UF Athletes of 2008-09.
Consistent Brooks leads to standout season for UF
By PHIL KEGLER, Alligator Staff Writer
Four years ago, Sha Brooks may have wanted to play basketball for Tennessee.
It is the inclination for many women's basketball players since Pat Summitt has made Knoxville, Tenn., a hot spot for the game, winning eight NCAA Championships and earning a berth in every NCAA Tournament since its inception.
But the 5-foot-7 guard from Jackson, Tenn., wasn't wanted by the Volunteers, who play roughly five hours from where she grew up.
She became a Gator instead but always saved her best performances for when Rocky Top was blaring.
With ESPN coming to the O'Connell Center for a women's basketball game for the first time in seven years, Brooks scored 29 points to lead the Gators in a 66-57 win against the Volunteers on Feb. 8. It was only UF's third-ever win against Tennessee and resulted in an AP Poll Top 10 ranking for the first time since February 2001.
And when the Gators trailed 50-43 with 7:29 remaining, Brooks would come through with one of her finest moments.
She came down the court and drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Then she did it again. Next, she drew a charge on Tennessee sharpshooter Angie Bjorkuland, sending the game to a media timeout and bringing the crowd to its feet as it erupted. Two more free throws from Brooks cut the deficit to 1 before yet another 3-pointer from the top of the key gave UF a lead it would not surrender.
For a nearly six-minute stretch, the senior guard scored 12 points and was her team's entire offense.
It was the brightest in a season of many shining moments for the four-year starter.
She pushed her teammates to one of the best seasons in program history, setting new school records with 15 straight wins and seven consecutive Southeastern Conference victories. UF returned to the Big Dance after a two-year absence and won a first-round game against Temple before falling to eventual national champion Connecticut.
And she was certainly a part of the action every night, starting all 32 games, and finished her career having been on the floor for the opening tip 123 straight times.
Brooks led the team in scoring, averaging 16.4 points per game, but upped that total to 18.8 per contest in eight matchups against nationally ranked opponents.
The senior earned SEC Player of the Week honors on three separate occasions en route to being a unanimous First Team All-SEC selection by the coaches and media.
She will leave Gainesville as one of only two Gators (Brandi McCain, '98-'02) with 1,500 points, 275 assists and 200 steals.
For her dependable scoring, clutch performances and leading the Gators to one of their best seasons ever, Sha Brooks is the alligatorSports No. 8 UF Athlete of 2008-09.
BY THE NUMBERS: Brooks earned one sixth-place vote, two seventh-place votes, one ninth-place vote, one 10th-place vote and was left off one ballot.
Enea rips through records on torn ACL
By ADAM BERRY, Alligator Staff Writer
During her junior year, Francesca Enea broke the UF career record for RBI, set the single-season RBI mark and shattered the school record for home runs in a career and a single season. And she basically did it all on only one good knee.
Enea suffered a partially torn ACL for the second time in her three years at UF during the team's preseason workouts in the fall. However, the doctor told her she could play without missing any time if she wore a brace, as she did during her freshman season.
UF coach Tim Walton told the Alligator that Enea made her mind up and presented him with the options.
"She said, 'There's no way that I'm not playing this season,' and that was it," Walton added.
Despite the injury, Enea started the season as one of the best offensive players in the country and had a record 71 RBI in 2009. In a Feb. 14 doubleheader &ndash the seventh and eighth games of the season &ndash the left fielder launched two grand slams and drove in 10 runs.
Part of a lineup so deep and effective that Walton once described it as "murderer's row," Enea was consistently the biggest all-around threat. She finished the year with UF's highest on-base percentage (.494), the most home runs (18), the most RBI (71), tied for the highest slugging percentage (.713), the second most walks (48) and had the fifth-highest batting average (.339) on the team. The UF softball team set record after record while going 133-10 over the last two years, and Enea shattered several career milestones in just three years. Her 41 home runs and 157 RBI are both high marks for the program, and she still has another season to add to those numbers.
Her record-breaking 18 homers helped UF break its single-season home run record in just 49 games, 26 fewer than the Gators played in the entire season that they set the mark.
One of Enea's most memorable longballs came on April 8 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium against FSU. Two innings after Megan Bush's homer sent the game to extra frames, Enea led off the ninth with a towering walk-off bomb to give the Gators the 4-3 victory.
Enea picked up two Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors early in the season, and she was one of the top 25 finalists for the 2009 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
For lighting up the scoreboard and rewriting the UF individual and team record books &ndash all while dealing with a serious injury &ndash Francesca Enea is the alligatorSports No. 7 UF Athlete of 2008-09.
BY THE NUMBERS: Enea earned two fifth-place votes, two seventh-place votes, one ninth-place vote and was left off one ballot.
