UF basketball regular season ends as a disappointment

Posted Mar 4, 2010 by Aaron Oberlin

Updated Mar 4, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Auburn’s (15-15) backcourt and three-point shooting kept the Florida women’s basketball team under a .500 winning percentage for the season, as the No. 7-seeded Gators lost 74-61 in the first round of the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament held at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga.

The rest of UF’s season lies in the hands of tournament selectors, which they’ll know the result by March 15.

The No. 10-seeded Auburn’s backcourt shot 51.9 percent (27-52) from the floor, 8-of-14 from the three-point mark. They out-rebounded the Gators 41-30.

“You have to congratulate Auburn on a fantastic performance. They did a great job from the beginning of the game,” UF coach Amanda Butler said. “They were more physical than us and dominated some statistical areas, like rebounding. They had some tremendous individual performances. This is obviously a very disappointing loss for us, a disappointing exit. We had higher hopes of our performance today.”

UA guard Allie Smalley tied her all-time high with five three-pointers for a career- and game-high 29 points, hitting 10-of-14 from the floor. Her teammate Jordan Greenleaf pulled down 13 rebounds to lead all players.

“We shot the ball really well today, that definitely makes a difference in the ballgame,” said Auburn coach Nell Fortner. “Alli Smalley had a career day and Jordan Greenleaf continues to be a warrior for us. In the big minutes she plays, she just anchors us down.”