Gators roll past turnover-prone Cats

Wire, Special Reports

GAINSVILLE, Fla. — Carly Ormerod had a season-high 19 points for Kentucky, and Victoria Dunlap added 16 points and 12 rebounds, but Florida rolled to a 74-59 victory over the Cats in Gainesville.

The Gators scored 25 points off of 23 UK turnovers. It was the most UK turnovers since committing 26 against North Carolina A&T on Jan. 1.

Sha Brooks had 17 points and nine assists for 12th-ranked Florida.

Trumae Lucas had 14 points, and Marshae Dotson finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for Florida (19-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference).

Florida is 11-0 at the O'Connell Center and has won four straight overall.

"We're terribly disappointed in the outcome of this one," Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said. "We thought we had a great shot to come down here and win. Florida played great, and their team is really a fine team. They're able to overcome any mistakes by just playing hard and putting tremendous pressure on us on defensively. We'll just have to try to learn from this loss and build from it, and see if we can get back on the winning track on Sunday."

Kentucky travels to Mississippi to take on the Rebels (13-8, 2-4) at 3 p.m. EST.

The Cats' starting lineup of Dunlap, Eleia Roddy, Ormerod, Brittany Edelen and Amber Smith was used for only the fourth time this season and the first since Nov. 29 vs. Long Island. The lineup is now 3-1.

Florida outrebounded Kentucky, 41-35. The Cats have either tied or won the rebounding battle in all but five games this season.

Kentucky allowed the Gators to shoot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the field. Florida is the first team to shoot over 40 percent since Tennessee shot 45.5 percent on Jan. 8.