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Columbia thought they had won the game. Cecilia Collins put the Lions ahead 81-80 with a driving layup that went down with just 1.3 seconds left on the clock. The Gators immediately called a timeout to move the ball up the floor to set up a dramatic finish. Florida inbounded the ball to Aliyah Matharu just beyond the elbow, Matharu moved to her right and hoisted a shot while the clock expired. As the shot swished through the net, the graduate transfer was swarmed by her teammates and coaches in celebration of a 83-81 victory.

The win improved the Gators to 5-1 overall with a sweep of the Bar Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

The first quarter saw back and forth action between the two sides. Florida led by as many as seven following a Matharu pull-up jumper with 4:41 left in the period, but Columbia has cut the deficit to just three by the end of the stanza.

The back and forth jostling continued into the second quarter. The Lions took a 31-30 lead on a three-pointer by Kitty Henderson. The two teams traded leads throughout the remainder of the second, but the Gators trailed by four points heading into the halftime break.

Quickly into the third, Columbia extended their lead to six at 47-41 but a free throw by Matharu and a layup by Ra Shaya Kyle put Florida back on top with 5:56 remaining in the quarter. A Zippy Broughton bucket followed by a period closing three by Matharu put Florida up by seven heading into the final quarter.

A 5-0 run by Columbia pushed the score close once again. The Lions jumped ahead by six with 3:26 remaining following an Abbey Hsu triple but the Gators proved resilient. Alberte Rimdal knocked down a three to put Florida within one and Kyle followed with a second chance layup with four seconds remaining to put the Gators ahead and to setup the thrilling conclusion.

For the Gators, Matharu finished with 26 points to lead the way. Kyle added 18 points and seven rebounds. Leilani Correa contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Faith Dut also finished in double-digits with ten points.

Florida will travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on Wednesday, November 29. The game is scheduled for 5:00 PM and will air on ACC Network.

The Yellow Jackets are 4-0 so far, but will travel to Cancun for a holiday tournament this week. GT defeated Kennesaw State 77-38 their last time out (Sunday).