Two games, two losses so far for the Florida women’s basketball team.
Florida guard Delicia Washington ran up the court with the ball and the momentum with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter as her team traded baskets with Florida State.
Redshirt senior Funda Nakkasoglu already had 22 points on the day and had made at least half of her shots from three-point range. A pass from Delicia Washington put the ball in the right hands for the Florida women’s basketball team down by two with just a few seconds left.
Year 2 of the Cam Newbauer experience promises more of the same as far as the style of play for UF: fast pace, an active defense and, of course, attempting three-pointers at a clip that would make Steph Curry jealous.
Three wins by a combined four points. Winning every game as the underdog. Sister freaking Jean.
When asked what it has been like to play under the wing of first-year head coach Cameron Newbauer, the waterworks began to flow. Transfer Paulina Hersler had just finished her first and only season in a Florida Gators uniform and couldn’t hold back the tears.
With six seconds remaining in the first round of the SEC Tournament, Florida knew its time was up.
Tara Washington glanced down at her phone as it started to buzz.
With two and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, Florida’s women’s basketball team emptied its bench.
The number two appeared in the box score numerous times after Thursday night’s Florida women’s basketball game.
When seniors Haley Lorenzen and Paulina Hersler hear the buzzer sound for the final time as members of Florida’s women’s basketball team, they will leave a gaping hole in UF’s starting frontcourt.
There wasn’t a particular moment one could point to that swung the momentum of the game. There wasn’t a slick crossover or a single bucket or rebound that signaled it would be Florida’s day.
A hand in her face didn’t stop Dyandria Anderson. From the left wing of the three-point line, the senior guard shot over her defender, finding nothing but the bottom of the net and giving Florida a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter.
With just over a minute left in the fourth quarter and the Florida women’s basketball team down by one possession, Texas A&M had the ball. From the right wing, freshman Chennedy Carter pulled up from three and watched as her shot fell through the basket.
If the Gators women’s basketball team was disappointed following its fifth consecutive loss of SEC play on Sunday, it hardly showed. Instead, coach Cameron Newbauer and his players talked about the fight and pride that has been a staple of postgame press conferences and pre-practice soundbites all season long.
It has been a rough past couple of weeks for Florida’s women’s basketball team.
Just over a minute into the third quarter, South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson mirrored her teammates’ ball movement across the floor as she shuffled from one side of the paint to the other. Guard Doniyah Cliney received a pass and immediately spotted Wilson posting up just to the right of the lane. With a lob into Wilson, Florida forward Paulina Hersler abandoned her inside position to take a swipe at the ball.
With under a minute to go in the third quarter and the game well out of reach, Mississippi State’s Zion Campbell drove through the lane. Her layup went off the glass and through the bottom of the net, giving the Bulldogs a 36-point lead and doubling Florida’s total points in the process.
Delicia Washington plays like a cheetah on a sugar rush.
With slightly over seven minutes remaining in Monday night’s game, Florida held a one-point lead over No. 15 Missouri. However, when the last shot missed the rim and the contest went final, the Gators dropped their eighth SEC game of the season and their third straight conference game against a ranked opponent.
Solutions by The State News
