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The Florida Gators women’s basketball team was the #23 team in the country and depth seemed to be a huge benefit to a team hoping to make a deep run in the SEC Tournament and even into the NCAA tournament. 

However, on December 11, all that changed. Gators head coach Amanda Butler informed the world that Florida’s leading scorer, Eleanna Christinaki had quit on her team after not accepting a first half suspension. The Gators defeated North Carolina A&T soundly in Panama City that afternoon, but clearly the momentum wasn’t the same. 

It was assumed that Christinaki was home-sick and it made the situation much worse than it should have been. It was also assumed that Christinaki was going back to Greece, where she is a member of the Greek National Team. 

On Thursday, Christinaki posted a photo on her official Facebook account that said “New Challenges.” The accompanying photo was of Christinaki in a basketball pose wearing a Univeristy of Maryland basketball uniform. 

It appears that Christinaki will be a member of the Terrapins after sitting out for the required one year for transferring. 

Christinaki led Florida with a 17.6 PPG average as a sophomore. She will have two years of eligibility upon transferring. 

*It should be noted that we could not use the photo from the Facebook account, due to privacy rights. 

Also, since Christinaki quit, senior Ronni Williams has emerged. Williams has long been a leader, but her stats have really heated up since Christinaki left. 

FINAL: FLORIDA 70, MISSISSIPPI 63

GAINESVILLE, FL-  The Florida Gators shot lights out in the home opener against Little Rock, however it appears that as the calendar has turned to a new year, Florida has reverted to it’s old, poor shooting ways. 

The Gators dominated Ole Miss for thirty-seven minutes on Tuesday. Those final three minutes became very uneasy for a crowd of 10,423 as the Rebels twice closer the Florida lead to six. 

Florida head coach called the Gators effort in the final minutes “unacceptable.”

Despite the poor finish, the Gators moved to 2-0 in SEC play with a tall task against Tennessee looming. 

Florida was led by Canyon Barry, who scored 20 points off the bench on 8-14 shooting. KeVaughn Allen added 14 points and Devin Robinson chipped in 11. Kasey Hill had a solid all-around game with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Hill did however commit 5 turnovers in the game. 

Mississippi was led by Deandre Burnett with 18 points and received 15 points and 13 rebounds from Sebastian Saiz.  

Florida is now 2-0 in SEC play and will face Tennessee in Exactech Arena on Saturday. 

ATTENDANCE:  10,423

RECORDS:

• MISSISSIPPI:                         9-5 (0-2)
• FLORIDA:                               11-3 (2-0)

Team Stats:

What’s Next:

FLORIDA GATORS vs TENNESSEE

JANUARY 7, 2016 at 5:15 PM

Photo Courtesy of SEC/ESPN 

FINAL: FLORIDA 81, ARKANSAS 72

FAYETTEVILLE, AK-  The Florida Gators have raced out to a 1-0 conference record after defeating a very good Arkansas team at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.  For KeVaughn Allen, it was a homecoming.  The sophomore, from Little Rock, AK, led the Gators with 21 points.  On Florida’s first possession, Allen was booed by Arkansas fans before casually draining a three-pointer.  Allen shot 5-9 from behind the three point line, and every time Arkansas made a run, Allen seemed to have the response for the Gators.

Devin Robinson added 17 points and 7 rebounds.  Kevarrius Hayes and Kasey Hill finished with 10 points for Florida.  Hill led the Gators with 6 assists, and John Egbunu had 11 rebounds before fouling out with just more than two minutes left.  Egbunu started the game on the bench after sitting out the last two games with a hamstring injury.

Arkansas was led by Daryl Macon with 22 points, while Moses Kingsley finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Florida opened SEC play with a victory for the fifth consecutive season.  The Gators will return to the friendly confines of Exactech Arena on Tuesday when Ole Miss visits.

ATTENDANCE:  10,665

RECORDS:

• FLORIDA:                         10-3
• ARKANSAS:   11-2

Team Stats:

What’s Next:

FLORIDA GATORS vs MISSISSIPPI

JANUARY 3, 2016 at 7:00 PM

ESPNU

FINAL: FLORIDA 102, SE LOUISIANA 51

GAINESVILLE, FL-  The Florida Gators celebrated their first home game at the new Exactech Arena with a 102-51 rout of Southeastern Louisiana.  Ronni Williams was the story from even before the opening tip, as she was honored for recently surpassing the 1,000 career point mark.  Williams opened the first quarter with twenty points, and was only one rebound away from a double-double at halftime.  Williams would soon get that rebound and ended the game with a career high 34 points and 12 rebounds.  Williams was aggressive early and often and made 14 of her 16 field goal attempts.  Williams also stuffed the stat line with 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and most important, 0 turnovers.

Florida saw all five starters reach double digits in points as Haley Lorenzen (15), Delicia Washington (14), Tyshara Fleming (11), and Deyandria Anderson (11) all joined Williams.  Lorenzen also added 10 rebounds.  Florida used an eight person rotation and all players played 23 or more minutes.

The Lions allowed Florida to shoot at 52% but only 2-14 from behind the 3-point line.  Florida outrebounded the mush smaller SE Louisiana 47-29.

Florida improves to 9-4 on the season, and will begin SEC play on Sunday against Auburn in Gainesville.

TEAM STATS:

WHAT’S NEXT:

#16 FLORIDA vs AUBURN

JANUARY 1, 2017 at 2:00 PM

EXACTECH ARENA