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The Florida Gators women’s basketball team fell to the Florida State Seminoles for the fifth consecutive year Tuesday, 81-75, despite leading by six after the opening quarter.

In a matchup that has been all FSU since 2015, head coach Cam Newbauer and his squad teased for the opening frame that this year might be very different. Nina Rickards led the way with a hot stretch from beyond the three-point line, and the Gators were up 22-16 after the opening ten minutes.

From that point on, however, the Seminoles took control and slowly pulled back even with and then ahead of Florida. Junior guard Morgan Jones led the way with 24 points and 7 rebounds, including a run of key baskets late that featured a layup that made it a seven point game with :18 left, essentially icing the Gators. Forward Valencia Myers had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, also laying in some key shots in the fourth quarter.

The most glaring difference on the stat sheet at the end of the game was rebounding. Florida State pulled down over twice as many rebounds at Florida (52 to 25), with 17 offensive rebounds producing 13 second-chance points, including the final Jones basket.

“Anytime you get out-rebounded by [27], you’re not going to win a game,” Newbauer said after the game.

Despite being down as many as 11 points in the final quarter, the Gators refused to quit, bringing themselves back within three points with just 1:46 remaining before Jones and Myers made their key plays to salt the game away.

A large part in why Newbauer’s squad had a chance to win late was the three-point shot, as Florida shot at a 40.7% clip as a team from deep and Rickards made four of her six attempts from long range.

The Seminoles were still more efficient as a whole, however, outshooting Florida 46.2% to 41.8% from the court and making 10 more free throws. This combined with the rebounding disparity proved to be too much for Florida to overcome.

Newbauer talked after the game about how he felt good about the game entering today and that it was close, but a lot of what went wrong for the Gators could be chalked up to inexperience. Typical starter Kristina Moore missed the game with an illness (non-COVID related), which forced five-star recruit Jordyn Merritt into the starting lineup.

“I wanted to see how she’d respond,” Newbauer said of Merritt.

And respond the freshman did. Merritt made two of four threes for an eight-point game as well as pulling down five boards in a promising start to her Gator career.

However, a few late missed rebounds and open lanes defensively held the Gators just short of finally crossing the finish line against their in-state rivals, and Newbauer was the first to say just how disappointing that was.

“I thought we had this one,” Newbauer said.