GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Kentucky guard Amani Franklin (Decatur, Ga.) scored a career-high 17 points as a key spark off the bench and senior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis, Tenn.) charted her 15th career double-double Sunday, but Florida made key free-throws down the stretch to take an 83-79 win over the Wildcats in the Stephen C. O?Connell Center.
Florida (8-21, 2-12 Southeastern Conference), playing in the final regular-season game of head coach Carolyn Peck?s tenure, shot 59 percent (23-of-39) from the free-throw line, but converted on 5-of-6 charity shots in the final 39 seconds and made 17 free-throws in the second half. The Cats (17-12, 6-8) made just 10-of-22 free-throws in the game.
“It was a very hard-fought game,” Kentucky Coach Mickie DeMoss said. “We knew that Florida was going to come out with a lot of emotion since it was Carolyn Peck?s last game as their coach. They put a lot of heart and emotion into getting the win for her. We just didn?t match their intensity consistently for 40 minutes. They knocked down free throws down the stretch and we didn?t. When you?re in a close game, you have to take advantage of free throws and we didn?t do that today.”
Franklin?s career-high 17 points came on 7-of-13 shooting with three three-pointers. She also added five rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes of action off the bench.
“I was very, very pleased with the way Amani played today,” DeMoss said. “She has been getting better and better all season long and tonight she really stepped it up when we needed some help on the perimeter.”
Both teams shot well from the floor as Florida shot 50 percent (28-of-56) from the floor, marking just the ninth time in the past three years that the Wildcats have allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent or better. Kentucky out-rebounded the Gators by 10, 43-33, and the Wildcats notched 48.4 percent (31-of-64) shooting clip from the field.
Humphrey notched her second consecutive double-double and her seventh of the season with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.) narrowly missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds in 32 minutes of action, while senior guard Nastassia Alcius (Lexington, Ky.) also scored in double figures with 10 points. Freshman forward Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.) added six rebounds.
The Wildcats trailed 74-70 with 1:53 remaining when Florida?s Depree Bowden stole the ball and Sha Brooks converted on a lay-up to put the Gators ahead by six. After a basket by Humphrey, Brooks responded with two free-throws. Senior guard Jenny Pfeiffer (North Vernon, Ind.) nailed a three with 45 seconds left to bring the Cats within three, 78-75, but Florida made 5-of-6 free-throws to close out the game and clinch the win.
Kentucky held a slight three-point advantage at the half, 39-36, as all nine Wildcats that saw action scored at least one point. The first half was a see-saw battle as there were two ties and 10 leads changes. Alcius led UK with eight points. Down 32-29 in the opening stanza, Franklin provided a key spark off the bench by pouring in seven points in the final five minutes.
The Gators surged out of the locker room on an 8-2 run that included six points from Marshae Dotson to take a 46-41 advantage with 16:54 remaining in the game. Pfeiffer knocked down a three-pointer and Humphrey followed with a jumper to knot the score at 46-all, but the Gators knocked down three consecutive baskets to go ahead 52-46 with 15:09 left.
Florida extended its advantage to 57-51 with 12:25 remaining on a jumper by Brooks before Franklin knocked down a three-pointer to bring the Cats within three, 57-54. Trailing 58-54, Franklin made a basket to spark a 7-3 Kentucky run that was capped off by a three-pointer also by Franklin to give Kentucky a 63-60 lead with 8:45 remaining in the game. Florida knotted the score at 63 and after three more ties, pulled ahead 72-70 on a shot by Brooks. The Gators would not trail the rest of the way.
Two Florida players ? Brooks and Dotson ? each eclipsed the 20-point plateau as Brooks had a game-high 28 points and Dotson added 22.
Kentucky begins play in the 2007 Southeastern Conference Tournament as the seventh seed against 10th-seeded Arkansas on Thursday, March 1, in the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on Fox Sports Net South and the Big Blue Sports Network (radio) with Neil Price.
Live audio and statistics for all UK Hoops games will be available at ukathletics.com.
