It wasn’t the 40-point win Jordan Jones might have liked against her former team, but she’ll live with the outcome.
UF guard Trumae Lucas drained the go-ahead pull-up jumper with 17.7 seconds left to give the Gators (11-9, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) a 59-56 win over South Carolina on Sunday.
It was Florida’s ninth game this season decided by single digits (4-5).
“It was tough seeing familiar faces,” said Jones, who transferred to UF after her freshman year at USC. “It’s just a good feeling, kind of justifying why I came here.”
Forward Jennifer George finished with a career-high six blocks, including one on USC guard La’Keisha Sutton with nine seconds left. Gamecocks center Kelsey Bone grabbed the ball in time for one last shot, but it clanged off the rim and UF forward Sharielle Smith corralled the rebound.
UF outblocked USC 9-0.
“I just try to use my strength,” George said. “Just trying to push by the paint and use every bit of myself to get up on them.”
The Gamecocks (10-9, 3-4 SEC) fell behind by 13 after Lucas sank two free throws with 9:28 left in the first half. Jones added a three-pointer 69 seconds later before USC went on a 15-4 run to close out the half.
Bone, the SEC’s top rebounder, had a game-high 11 boards and almost matched her season average (14.5) with 14 points in the first half on 5-of-9 shooting, including a 4-of-5 effort at the free-throw line.
Foul trouble in the second half kept her scoreless for 18-plus minutes, but she made an immediate impact once Florida’s Azania Stewart fouled out. Bone finished with 19 points, and Sutton (15) and Valerie Nainima (12) also scored in double-figures for the Gamecocks, who were second in the SEC in three-point shooting at 47 percent, but went 5 of 16 from beyond the arc (31 percent).
“Kelsey is so talented,” UF coach Amanda Butler said. “She’s the total package because she’s big, she’s strong, and she is so skilled. The more we could get her off the floor, certainly that improved our chances.”
With Stewart limited on the offensive end by fouls, other Gators stepped up in the second half. Lucas scored nine second-half points, and Lonnika Thompson hit back-to-back three-pointers to sustain a four-minute 9-4 UF run while Bone was benched due to foul trouble. Smith and Lucas led the Gators with 11 points each.
Florida cleaned up its play with four turnovers in the second half compared to 12 in the first half.
At the men’s basketball team’s matchup with South Carolina on Saturday, Butler encouraged fans to come out for her team’s game as well, and she thanked the O’Connell Center crowd of 2,053 after the game.
“[The fans] were as much a part of the win as George’s block at the end,” she said.
