As the Gators’ starter at point guard, senior Lanita Bartley knows she needs to set the tempo.
Even so, what Florida does with the ball doesn’t keep her awake at night.
“I really don’t think about offense much, it just goes with the flow,” Bartley said. “If you get defensive stops, then the offense will come.”
Her offensive outburst against Charlotte (5-2) on Saturday, when she scored a career-high 28 points, tells a different story.
“When we’ve needed offensive production, she’s been not just willing, but able to convert,” coach Amanda Butler said. “Not just take shots, but make shots.”
Florida (5-1) hopes that Bartley will continue to have the hot hand tonight against Belmont (1-5) at 7 in the O’Connell Center.
As has been the case this season, Bartley’s points Saturday came mostly from her play inside. She has attempted just seven shots from beyond the arc this season and made one 3-point shot in two attempts against Charlotte.
“They couldn’t stop my penetration,” Bartley said. “Coach tells me to shoot every day. When I turn down shots, she’s like, ‘You need to shoot the ball.’”
Bartley was 9-of-17 from the field Saturday, putting up many of her points in the paint.
She attempted a team-high eight layups against the 49ers, making six of them.
“‘Slippery’ is one of the ways we like to describe her,” Butler said. “It’s really amazing how she gets to the rim a lot of times.”
Bartley’s insistence on driving the lane also helped her pad her scoring effort via the free-throw line. She was perfect against the 49ers, making nine attempts from the charity stripe.
Overall, Florida’s free-throw percentage was 85.2 percent against Charlotte, a performance that improved the Gators’ season percentage to 68.9, the second-best mark in the Southeastern Conference.
“It was just a must,” Bartley said. “The game was close and we really needed to hit those free throws.”
In addition to defeating Charlotte, Florida earned an 85-74 victory against La Salle (2-5) last Friday as part of the Courtyard LaGuardia Turkey Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Bartley scored 16 points against the Explorers and added nine rebounds, which gave her a two-day total of 16 boards.
Junior forward Jennifer George, who grabbed 24 rebounds, was the only Gator to best Bartley.
“That’s probably the thing that makes people scratch their heads the most,” Butler said.
“For her to come up with eight rebounds or nine rebounds and she just seems to do it and does it on a consistent basis — it certainly isn’t a fluke.”
Through six games, Bartley’s 37 rebounds are the second most on the team behind George’s 54.
The 5-foot-6 guard may be the shortest player on the UF roster, but she believes that she succeeds because of her height.
“They just forget about me sometimes,” Bartley said, “so I just make sure I crash.”
Florida senior point guard Lanita Bartley scored 44 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in two Gators’ wins during the weekend.
