With the game forced into a second overtime, Steffi Sorensen was the least expected player on the Gators to take a shot. Through the game’s first 45 minutes, Sorensen had failed to score a single point.
Then she hit a three-pointer. Then hit another. And another.
The senior rattled off three-straight shots from beyond the arc, despite missing her first six attempts of the game, to start the second overtime in a 71-68 victory over Auburn on Thursday.
“I was getting some open looks and I wasn’t hitting them and it’s something I’ve been used to all season,” Sorensen said. “There’s two ways you can go about it: stop shooting and play scared or you can keep shooting, and that’s what I did.”
The Gators (9-6, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) seemingly had the game won at halftime.
Using strong defense to hold the Tigers to 18.5 percent field-goal shooting (5 of 27) and forcing 15 turnovers in the first half, Florida stormed out to a 33-15 lead at halftime, allowing the fewest points in a half since a Dec. 28, 2006 game against Alabama St.
Auburn center KeKe Carrier was held to two points in the first half, while the Gators’ offense was led by Azania Stewart, who finished with 11 points in the opening period and finished with a career-high 21 points to go with 11 rebounds.
But the Tigers hardly let the 18-point first-half deficit faze them, rallying behind Carrier after intermission. The Tigers went on an 11-2 run to start the half, where Carrier scored every point for them. She finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
The run brought the game within single digits with 10:13 remaining in regulation for the first time since UF led 18-9 early on.
It was a vastly different second half for UF, which reverted back to turning the ball over and being dictated by its opponent. It committed 11 turnovers in the second period compared to just 6 in the first.
The Gators shot nearly a similar percentage in both halves (35.3 percent from the field in the first half and 36.4 in the second) but couldn’t get to the free-throw line in the second period and scored 14 less points than before halftime.
By comparison, the Tigers made 15 trips to the charity stripe in the second frame and Auburn outscored Florida 37-19 in the second half.
With 11 seconds left in regulation, Sorensen missed the first shot of her one-and-one, and after a timeout was called by each team, Tigers guard Nicolle Thomas sped down the court and drained a desperation three-pointer with 3 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
“I knew I had to step up because I wasn’t going to lose that game,” said Sorensen, who said she never hesitated on her first three-point shot in second overtime.
Stewart, on the verge of fouling out, continued to battle it out with Carrier in overtime and after Carrier missed two free throws that would have made it a two-possession game, Stewart answered with two free throws that sent it into the second overtime, where Sorensen broke the game open on UF’s first three possessions.
“I can’t say how big of a win it is,” coach Amanda Butler said. “It was huge. There were so many highs and lows, but the main thing is we’re 2-0 (in the SEC).”
