GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Longwood women's basketball team cut a 10-point Florida lead at halftime to just five two minutes into the third quarter, but the Gators pulled away for a 93-65 victory at Exactech Arena on Sunday.
Senior Mariah Wilson knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the game at the 8:12 mark in the third to pull the Lancers (7-5) to within 43-38 before Florida (7-4) embarked on a 13-0 run and a 29-point frame to take control on its way to a fourth consecutive win.
Wilson scored 13 of her career-high 18 points in the second quarter, including going 3-for-3 from long range and 4-of-4 from the foul line, to help the Lancers trail by just 43-33 at the half. The three Wilson treys came in succession as part of a 9-3 LU run late in the half.
Longwood, which turned the Gators over eight times in the second and 21 times in the game, outscored the hosts, 21-20, in the stanza.
"We battled and competed against a good SEC opponent," said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. "There were some bright spots, but in the end, their size prevailed. We came out of the locker room after halftime and wanted to be aggressive team, we wanted to set the tone to start the half, and I thought we came out with a lot of fight. I thought we did a good job of chipping away at that lead."
Otaifo Esenabhalu (13 points) and Kiki McIntyre (11) joined Wilson in double digits for Longwood, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. McIntyre added five rebounds and four assists.
Florida placed four in double figures and received double-doubles from both Ra Shaya Kyle (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Jeriah Warren (10 points, 11 boards). Liv McGill led all players with 21 points and five assists as the Gators shot better than 52 percent (38-for-73) on the day.
The bigger Gators outrebounded Longwood, 55-23, including 21-7 on the offensive glass. Longwood, though, which came into play averaging the sixth-most steals per game in NCAA Division I at 14.5, was right on that number Sunday with 15. The Lancers also limited their own miscues, tying a season-low 14 turnovers.
"We talked a lot about no matter what happened, that we are still going to be us. We're going to do what we do and we were going to do it together," Lang-Montgomery said. "And so, I thought our defense forced some turnovers and we were able to create some offense from that and ... I thought we held our own. We were competitive and we took a step forward despite what the score shows."
Florida held the Lancers scoreless for more than three minutes in third to build a 59-40 lead with 3:52 to play in the period, extending its advantage to 72-48 at the end of three quarters.
The deficit grew to as many as 27 at 79-52 on a Paige Clausen 3-pointer with 7:13 remaining. The Lancers were able to work it back to 83-64 with just under four minutes to play when McIntyre canned a triple, assisted by Jaci Bolden.
The game was a homecoming for Lang-Montgomery, a 1995 Florida graduate, who played (1988-92) and coached (2019-22) at UF.
Longwood next heads to Babson Park, Fla., to take on NAIA foe Webber International Wednesday at 2 p.m., before breaking for the holidays.
