Lady Bulldogs Travel To Gainesville To Face Florida On Sunday
Mississippi State has been stellar the last three games on the defensive end of the floor, allowing an average of just 59.5 points a game respectively. The Lady Bulldogs are fifth in the league in field goal percentage defense as opponents are shooting just 37.3 percent from the field. Offensively, State is shooting 37.0 percent from the field. Senior
Mary Kathryn Govero is leading the scoring charge, averaging 12.1 points a game. Junior Diamber Johnson is scoring 11.8 points a contest. Junior Ashley Brown is pacing State in rebounds with 8.4 a game which is fifth-best in the SEC. Brown is now averaging 6.3 points a game. Junior Porsha Porter is adding 10.5 points a game.
Govero scored 17 points while adding two blocks and three steals in 37 minutes against Vanderbilt in the last outing. The Clinton, Miss.-native has scored double figures in seven of the last eight games.
Florida enters Sunday's game with a 14-13 overall record and 4-9 in the SEC. The Gators have lost four straight games dating back to Feb. 3 with their last win coming at Mississippi State. UF is led in scoring by junior guard Jordan Jones who is averaging 9.6 points a game.
Freshman guard Jaterra Bonds is scoring 8.3 points a game and is the second leading scorer. Florida is sixth in the SEC in scoring offense, averaging 64.9 points a game and is 10th in scoring defense, allowing 63.1 points a game. Head coach Amanda Butler is in her fourth season with Florida.
Mississippi State and Florida have met 38 times dating back to the 1978 season. Florida leads the series 20-18 and have now won four straight dating back to 2009. Mississippi State is 6-10 all-time against Florida in Gainesville. State's last win at Florida came in 2007 when the Lady Bulldogs took a 79-74 victory.
Mississippi State and Florida met on Jan. 30 in Starvkille with Florida taking a 67-60 victory over MSU. Against the Gators, Mary Kathryn Govero led the way with 22 points, going 6-8 from 3-point range. Porsha Porter added 18 points on 5-12 shooting. State would shoot 39 percent from the floor against UF but Florida would shoot 49 percent including a 56 percent shooting effort in the first half.