The Gators lose to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament second round, 67-48.
Ronni Williams fought until the final horn sounded and when it did, the Gator senior had scored a team-high 18 points but it wasn’t enough as Florida lost to Texas A&M, 67-48, in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament held at Bon Secours Wellness Arena Thursday evening.
The loss ended Florida’s 2016-17 season and the collegiate careers of seniors Tyshara Fleming and Williams.
Florida came out on top of a low-scoring first half, taking a 21-18 halftime lead. Texas A&M dominated the second half, 49-27, and advanced to the quarterfinals where it will play Missouri on Friday.
A handful of run defined the first half and the Gators took the three-point lead into the locker room thanks to a 12-0 to start the second quarter.
That spurt gave Florida a 19-11 with 3:21 remaining in the period. The Aggies finally got on the board in the second quarter with a three-pointer from Taylor Cooper, who sparked a 7-2 swing to end the half.
Florida hit 53.8 percent (7-13) of its shots during that second quarter, while Texas A&M managed just 2-of-14 from the floor (14.3 percent).
The third quarter, however, belonged to the Aggies and Khaalia Hillsman. A&M’s 6-foot-5 junior came alive in the second half, as she single-handedly outscored Florida in the third quarter, 14-13, and the Aggies totaled 24 points during that 10-minute span to take a 42-34 lead into the fourth.
With Florida holding a 27-20 lead after Williams scored inside with 7:45 remaining in the third, Hillsman scored six consecutive points that started a 20-4 run and the Aggies held a 40-31 lead with 1:51 remaining and the teams traded buckets to end the frame.
Cooper drilled to start the fourth and UF’s deficit was at 11 before Fleming and junior Haley Lorenzen connected on back-to-back scores and the Gators were within seven points, 45-38.
A&M countered with the next eight points and took a 53-38 lead with 5:51 remaining and Florida couldn’t recover.
Updated Records
- Florida: 15-16
- Texas A&M: 20-10
Double-Digit Gators
- Ronni Williams: 18 points (8-15 FG, 2-4 FT), 5 rebounds – 27th double-figure scoring game this season and 77th of career
- Delicia Washington: 10 points (4-10 FG, 2-2 FT) – 19th double-figure scoring game
Double-Digit Aggies
- Khaalia Hillsman led two Aggies in double-figure scoring with 24 points and 11 rebounds; scored 18 of her points in the second half
Individual Numbers of Note
- Williams moved into sole possession of 12th place in UF’s scoring record book, passing Tiffany Travis (1996-2000), who scored 1,488. Williams finished 1,492 career points.
Numbers of Note
- Florida failed to hit a three-pointer, missing all 10 attempts, and had its streak of a 63 consecutive games come to an end. The last time the Gators didn’t connect from deep also came against Texas A&M, as UF went 0-8 on Feb. 22, 2015, and had its 156-game streak end.
Senior Salute
- Tyshara Fleming and Ronni Williams are the two seniors on the Gator roster, whose collegiate basketball careers came to an end Thursday.
- Fleming capped her two-year Gator career with 372 points (6.0 ppg), 348 rebounds (5.6 rpg) and 88 blocked shots, while hitting 55.3 percent of her shots from the floor.
- Williams’ career has been well documented this season and was voted First Team All-SEC by the league’s head coaches. Williams ended her four-year tenure wearing the Orange & Blue ranked in the all-time record book No. 12 for scoring (1,492 points – 12.1 ppg), No. 12 for rebounding (818 rebounds – 6.7 rpg), No. 10 for blocked shots (96), No. 15 for games played (123) and No. 16 for field goal percentage (49.9 percent). She totaled 77 double-figure scoring games, 22 double-doubles and 15 games with at least 20 points, highlighted by a 43-point, 15 rebound performance in win against Vanderbilt on January 29, 2017.
Gator Pronunciations for this Release:
- TYSHARA Fleming: tie-SHEER-uh
- DELICIA Washington: duh-LEE-shuh
LINKS OF NOTE:
- Highlights: http://floridagators.com/watch/default.aspx?Archive=5471
- Official Postgame Press Conference: http://floridagators.com/watch/default.aspx?Archive=5472
- ASAP Transcript (PDF) of Press Conference: http://floridagators.com/documents/2017/3/2/ASAPtranscript_UF_030217.pdf
- Final Box: http://floridagators.com/documents/2017/3/2/31_TAMU67_UF48.pdf
- Photo Gallery by Matt Pendleton:
- Updated Gator stats: http://files.floridagators.com/stats/basketball-women/2016-17/cumu.pdf
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