Arkansas Arkansas/Florida Florida Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The forward, who battled nerves in her first tournament game, rebounded in her second by scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Razorbacks (19-11) to a 78-69 upset of Florida (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP).

"As a freshman she played scared," Arkansas coach Gary Blair said, referring to Thursday's win over Mississippi State. "She still got 10 points, but she was petrified. She was coming to the bench, and she was shaking."

Not against the Lady Gators. She connected on 6-of-12 from the field, including 4-of 6 from 3-point range.

"I played pretty nervous," Christon said. "I don't really know why, but I'm just glad I got that second chance (Friday)."

Wendi Willits added 22 as seventh-seeded Arkansas led by as many as 20 on three occasions early in the second half, but saw the advantage dwindle away behind the shooting of Florida guards Tombi Bell and Brandi McCain.

The Lady Gators (23-5), the tournament's No. 2 seed, trailed 66-63 with 2:52 left when Vanessa Hayden (12 points) scored a rebound basket.

But the Lady Razorbacks connected on 12-of-16 free throws in the final two minutes, including the final eight straight to preserve the victory.

Lonniya Bragg added 10 for Arkansas, which reached the tournament semifinals for the first time since the Lady Razorbacks joined the league in 1992. Arkansas will face either Georgia or Mississippi, who played Friday night.

The loss marked the third straight year Florida has failed to reach the conference semifinals.

"We're obviously disappointed that we're not going to stick around and play in the greatest tournament in women's basketball," Florida coach Carol Ross said. "At the same time, you have to give Arkansas a lot of credit."

Ross said her team watched Arkansas in Thursday's opening round victory and thought they could pose a problem for her team.

"As an opponent, you were hoping it was a one-shot wonder," Ross said. "We have great respect and concern for how they were playing."

McCain led Florida with 19 points, but was 6-of-29 from the field, and failed to connect on several 3-point shots in the final minutes in trying to overtake Arkansas. Bell added 15, and Monique Cardenas finished with 13 for the Lady Gators.

Arkansas took a 39-23 halftime lead after a 17-6 run behind the shooting of Christon and Willits. Arkansas seemed to be in control with a 66-52 lead a minute later, but the Lady Gators clicked off 11 straight points to cut the lead to 66-63. Florida finished the game with a 32.9 percent shooting performance from the field, matching its low for the season against Vanderbilt in February.

Bell said there were several factors that led to the poor shooting performance.

"At times, we had looks at the basket, and we couldn't finish. At other times, we didn't get any looks, and we just threw the ball away," she said.

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