Lady Bulldogs Fall To Gators In First Round Of SEC Tournament
* Official Statistics
* Official Statistics (PDF)
* Postgame Notes
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Danielle Santos scored 24 points to lead Florida to a 98-83 victory over Mississippi State in the first round of the Southeastern Conference womens tournament Thursday.
The Gators (21-7), seeded fifth, advanced to Fridays quarterfinals against fourth-seeded Kentucky. Mississippi State (6-22) lost for the 13th time in a row as coach Sharon Fanning again again failed to pick up her 500th career coaching victory.
Sha Brooks added 22 points in a balanced Florida offense. Brittany Davis added 18, Dalila Eshe 15 and Sarah Lowe scored eight.
The Gators, who took control of the game late in the first half, scored the first 10 points after the break. Two minutes into the second half, Florida had built a 57-39 lead.
The scrappy Lady Bulldogs (6-22) were able to whittle the score to single digits once as time ran down, pulling to 86-78 with 2:38 left in the game on Miayorka Johnsons 3-pointer. Over the next two minutes, Florida outscored the Lady Bulldogs 10-2.
Johnson led Mississippi State with 21 points. Mamie McKinney scored 19, Marneshia Richard scored 14 and Lauren Roberts added 11.
Mississippi State, which lost to the Gators 63-48 during the regular season, ran with Florida in the first half. The Lady Bulldogs led as late as 21-20 with 9:28 left in the half. When Brooks scored off the baseline with 9:14 left in the half, the Gators led 22-21 and they would not trail again.
The Bulldogs would three times cut the margin to a basket but could never regain the lead. The Lady Bulldogs trailed 33-31 with 4:14 left in the half, but the Gators 6-0 run rebuilt the cushion to 40-31.
Florida outrebounded MSU 46-39.
Postgame Notes
- Sophomore guard Miayorka Johnson tied a career-high 21 points.
- Senior forward Mamie McKinney recorded a career-high 19 points.
- Freshman guard Marneshia Richard recorded a career-high 14 points.
- This was the second time this season that State had four players score double digits (Johnson 21, McKinney 19, Richard 14, Roberts 11). The other time was at UAB, Dec. 29, 2005.
- The 83 points scored tonight were the most by an MSU women's basketball team in an SEC Tourney game. This was also a season-high point total for the Lady Bulldogs.
- The 25 three-pointers attempted were the most by an MSU women's basketball team in an SEC Tourney game.
- Freshman guard Heather Hollis did not play tonight due to a stomach virus.