It has taken awhile, but the Gators women’s basketball team is finally figuring out how to get the most out of what it has.
Heading into tonight’s matchup against Missouri at 7 in the O’Connell Center, Florida hopes to employ what the team has learned from the losses.
The Gators have seen teams beat them from the three-point line, forcing Florida to work on rotating and closing out on shooters, arguably the team’s biggest weakness.
UF (10-10, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) needs to defend the shots from downtown if the team has any hope of beating a Missouri (11-9, 1-6 SEC) team that loves to shoot from long-range.
The Gators have an advantage this time around that they didn’t have last time, however.
Carlie Needles was missing from Florida’s lineup with a concussion when the Gators faced the Tigers on Jan. 11, a 66-47 loss that saw Florida score its second-lowest point total of the season.
Despite not playing against Missouri, Needles has scouted the Tigers’ guards and understands how to beat them.
"The most obvious thing is that Missouri is an awesome three-point shooting team," Needles said. "They’re very smart, they set guard-to-guard screens more than other teams do and they’re just always, always moving."
Missouri leads the SEC in three-pointers made per game with 7.7 a game. Senior Morgan Eye needs 56 more three-pointers to become the NCAA career leader in the category.
With Needles back in the rotation, the Gators have a chance to upend an opponent that dominated them from the three-point line.
After holding the Tigers to just 2-of-12 from three in the first half, Missouri seemingly couldn’t miss after the break.
The Tigers came out red-hot, hitting 7-of-8 shots from downtown to blow past Florida.
Ronni Williams, Florida’s leading scorer and first player off the bench, said that having Needles on the court changes the dynamic of the team.
"She brings a great deal of confidence to this team," Williams said. "With her on the court, we know we’re going to pressure and not worry about anything. As post players we can box out and wait for Carlie to come get the rebound because that’s what she does."
After shooting 37.5 percent from three-point range in non-conference play, Needles is hitting just 29 percent of her long-range attempts in SEC games.
For Needles, the key for getting the heat back is to just keep shooting.
"As a shooter, that happens," she said. "You have a really good shooting day and then you have a terrible shooting day, and you kinda just have to move past it. You gotta look to your teammates to give you confidence and help you get your rhythm in other places."
But what gives the team confidence more than anything is winning.
If Florida can string together consecutive SEC wins, the Gators might have the momentum to surge into February and possibly turn the season around.
"It felt awesome getting a win," Needles said. "It gives us a little more confidence going into February. January was pretty rough, but that’s part of the game."
If Florida hopes to surprise in the SEC in the final month of the regular season, the Gators will need everything to go the team’s way.
That means defending the three-point line efficiently, as well as feeding Haley Lorenzen in the post. Lorenzen’s early scoring set the tone in the opening minutes against Arkansas, and it was all Florida for the rest of the game.
Williams said seeing Lorenzen knock down early baskets to pounce on Arkansas gave the Gators the confidence to lead wire-to-wire.
"Seeing that happen, we knew it was going to be a great night," Williams said. "We kinda knew we were going to be on top that night. Seeing how well we played and were executing everything."
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Carlie Needles calls out a play to her teammates during Florida's win against Arkansas.
