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Thursday, Jan. 18 7:00pm ET
Gators win it with defense RECAP | BOX SCORE
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida survived a
defensive "slugfest," to hear coach Carol Ross describe it.
"Our defense kept us in position to win when we weren't
executing as we can on the offensive end," Ross said.
The Gators (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 10 AP) got enough offense from Tamara Stocks and Naomi Mobley to lead Florida to a 72-59 Southeastern Conference victory over Auburn. Stocks finished with 18 points and Mobley had 16
points and 10 rebounds.
Thursday night's victory increased Florida's (14-2, 3-1 SEC)
home winning streak to 12 games, while the Tigers (13-6, 1-4 SEC)
lost their fourth consecutive conference game and sixth out of
seven overall.
The tight defense by the Gators forced the Tigers into 21
turnovers, including 13 steals. It also helped keep the Tigers from
getting open looks at the basket as Auburn opened the game making
only 2 of its first 12 shots and ended the contest shooting a lowly
33.9 percent from the field.
Auburn coach Joe Ciampi said Florida's pressure defense made his
team look lost at times.
"We were like two ships in the night passing by," Ciampi said.
The only Tiger who managed to get into double-figures in the
scoring column was junior guard Carol Smith, who had 23 points on
8-of-19 shooting.
Although she led Florida in scoring, Stocks said she was happier
with how she helped harass the Tigers' frontcourt players and kept
them from feeling comfortable in the post.
"Honestly, I was more proud of my defensive effort," said
Stocks, who shot 5-for-13 from the field and hit 8 of 11 free
throws.
The ability of Stocks, Mobley and the other frontcourt players
for Florida to keep the ball out of the post helped extend Auburn's
season long four-game losing streak, all within conference play.
The Gators suffered a blow when sophomore guard Sherisha Hills
left the game with 4:38 remaining after falling awkwardly on her
right leg during a steal attempt. Hills sprained her right knee on
the play and was helped off the court by two trainers.
The injury comes one night after Florida men's basketball guard
Justin Hamilton was lost for the season with a torn knee ligament
in the Gators' 75-72 loss to Georgia. Hills has a history of
problems with her left knee, including having surgery to repair her
left anterior cruciate ligament in April of 2000.
"It would be useless to speculate right now," Ross said about
Hills' injury. "We're going to will that thing to be in good
shape, hopefully."
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