Trumae Lucas came off a cold bench and provided the spark Florida needed in a 55-52 Southeastern Conference win on the road at Mississippi State on Sunday.
The sophomore came in, scoreless in the first half, and helped start a 7-2 run against the Bulldogs to give her team a 49-44 lead. From there, the Gators (10-8, 3-2 SEC) used the free-throw line to their advantage, scoring their last six points from the charity stripe, including Lucas’ shot with 7.6 seconds left that iced the game.
“They didn’t really see me too much in the first half, so I felt like they really didn’t take me as an offensive threat when I came out in the second half,” Lucas said. “We knew they were a great second-half team so we just had to step our game up, and that’s what we did.”
Florida took a step back from its heartbreaking loss to Tennessee and turned the ball over 21 times, but the Gators turned the rebounding weakness exposed against the Volunteers (outrebounded in that game 46-24), into a strength against the smaller Bulldogs, out-rebounding MSU 46-35.
“We definitely took our loss against Tennessee out on Mississippi State,” Lucas said, adding that rebounding was a focal point coming into the game.
The Bulldogss (12-6, 3-2 SEC) entered the game with a high-scoring offense that averaged 72 a game in the SEC and featured four players averaging double figures, including senior guard Alexis Rack. Rack was second in the SEC in scoring, with 20 points a game and Armelie Lumanu (13.5), Mary Kathryn Govero (11.6) and Tysheka Grimes (11.5) were the other double-figure scorers who were all within the top-23 in the SEC in scoring.
Rack was not nearly the offensive threat on Sunday she had been this season. She finished 5 of 19 from the floor for 16 points, but six of them came off back-to-back three-pointers that were too little, too late at the end of the game.
Rack’s band of merry scorers took a hit and only Lumanu and Govero finished with 10 each. The Bulldogs shot 25 percent in the first half and raised that to 40 percent in the second half for a 33-percent average.
Florida’s own offensive output was driven by Azania Stewart in a first half that produced a combined 14 points in the first seven minutes. She finished with eight points in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting to go along with three rebounds.
Florida was picked up in the second half by all-around scoring (eight different players scored) highlighted by Sharielle Smith, who scored 10 of her 12 in the second half, and Lucas.
Steffi Sorensen proved her worth on the boards rather than behind the arc and nabbed 12 rebounds to compliment her eight points. The Gators shot below their season averages at a 35-percent clip from the floor, including a 24-percent effort from beyond the arc.
“Toughness is Trumae Lucas coming off the bench after she’d been sitting there for six or seven minutes and coming in making those plays with confidence,” coach Amanda Butler said. “Great toughness across the boards, but great defense…this Mississippi State team is very good, and to hold them to 52 points is amazing.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
