They shot, they stole, they conquered.
The UF women’s basketball team opened its season with an 85-63 win over Stetson on Saturday.
While every available Gator got playing time, two new faces made the biggest contributions.
Jordan Jones made the most of her 601-day wait with 17 points, 15 of them coming in the first half.
“Once the ball went up, I never thought ‘Oh my gosh, this is the first game I’ve played in so long,’” Jones said.
She also chipped in five assists, two steals and two rebounds.
Perhaps the most rewarding effort came from freshman Jennifer George. The highly touted inside presence finished with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, five rebounds and two steals.
“We’ve seen her have that type of physical presence that she did tonight to make plays,” Butler said.
The Gators finished the game with 14 steals, the most since nabbing 14 against Kentucky on Jan. 29, 2008.
“I was really, really pleased with our defense tonight,” coach Amanda Butler said. “I thought we had great balance, primarily because of the defense that we played.”
Using defense to generate offense, the Gators outscored the Hatters 33-13 off turnovers.
UF opened the game with some expected rust accompanying the first game of the season, missing its first five shots.
Jones said there were nerves throughout the locker room prior to tip off but the nerves started to fade away once the game began.
The Gators’ first field goal came off a Sharielle Smith layup with 17:14 left in the first half. Up to that point, the team’s only points came off two free throws by Jones.
The wrinkles ironed themselves out, and the Gators shot 47.4 percent for the first half and made over half their shots in the second half (15-28).
One of the things Butler stressed coming into the season was the versatility of her team and a multitude of lineup options.
She stuck to her guns in the first game, letting 12 players see the court.
“That was important for us to do and for us to see how can we operate with these different combinations,” Butler said.
The lead the Gators had was never threatened after a Jones layup in the sixth minute that put UF up 8-7. Winning by a comfortable margin allowed Butler to experiment and play Jones and Trumae Lucas at both guard positions, along with plugging in different post combinations.
The Gators’ bench was responsible for 41 points, and substitutes came early and often.
“We were able to score 85 points, and it just so happens Sha and Marshae didn’t play tonight. As much as we miss them, I think we found offensive answers,” Butler said.
