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Home > SECWB News & More! > SEC Teams > Florida > Butler Has Sweet Debut as Gators Chomp Xavier
Butler Has Sweet Debut as Gators Chomp Xavier
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
Posted: November 10th, 2007 @ 3:02am
Source: View Box Score
Florida coach Amanda Butler couldn’t have asked for anything more, as her Gators took a bite out of visiting Xavier 82-71 before 3,330 fans on opening night of the 2007-2008 basketball season. It was an impressive debut for this young coach, who has returned to her alma mater to revitalize a women’s program that has foundered the past few years. The Florida women‘s team, which went 9-22 (2-12 in conference play) last season, has labored in the shadows of their National Champion football and men’s basketball teams, but Butler is serving notice that she wants a slice of that championship pie for herself and this young Gator team. Butler said after the game, “The biggest thing had nothing to do with strategy or game plan. It was show your Gator pride and the team really came out and did that." Indeed they did, pulling off an impressive win against a super-sized Xavier team that is the defending Atlantic 10 champions and picked to finish second in conference play this season.
Florida’s balanced scoring attack proved to be too much for Xavier; any time the Musketeers keyed on a certain player, another Gator would step up and score. Florida had 4 players in double figures: senior Depree Bowden and sophomore Brittaney Thomas scored 17 points each, while junior Sha Brooks tallied 16 and junior Marshae Dotson added 14. The game was tightly contested, with Xavier leading 32-31 at the half. Florida clung to a slim 2-point lead at the 14:38 mark of the second half, but two quick treys by Brooks and juco transfer Lonnika Thompson pushed the lead to 50-42. Xavier cut the lead to five with 11:29 remaining in the game, but Florida went on a 21-7 run over the next five minutes to virtually put the game on ice. Xavier was never able to get closer than 8 points in the remaining minutes. Xavier star Amber Harris, a 6’5” sophomore, scored 21 and the Musketeers were led in scoring by sophomore point guard Jerri Taylor with a career-high 26 points. 6’6” freshman Ta’Shia Phillips was not as much of a factor as anticipated, scoring only 6 points in 30 minutes of play. The Gators outrebounded their taller opponents 43-39, and even though they only shot 35.3% in the first half, Florida came out in the second half on fire, scorching the nets with 63% shooting. They also tallied an impressive 83.3% from the free throw line for the game, hitting 13 of 14 in the second half.
Florida’s next game is Monday evening, Nov. 12 when they host Robert Morris. Game time is set for 7 pm EST.
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