College basketball

Seniors score 57 as UF tops Illinois

By wire services
Published December 10, 2005

GAINESVILLE - Experience was in the driver's seat Friday night, as Florida's four seniors combined for all but 12 of the Gators' points in a 69-64 win over Illinois.

UF's senior class, guards Danielle Santos and Sarah Lowe, and forwards Brittany Davis and Dalila Eshe, each had standout nights to push the Gators (7-1) to their best start under coach Carolyn Peck.

"It was one heck of a ball game," Peck said. "We knew going into the game that we would get a tough challenge in Illinois, and I knew they were going to have a good balance of outside shooters and inside presence. I am really proud of all four of our seniors. They all stepped up really big for us."

Santos led the charge with a season-high 18 points and Davis had a career-high five steals to complement her second career double double (12 points, 14 rebounds). Eshe scored 16 and grabbed eight rebounds, and Lowe had five rebounds, seven assists and 11 points, including a pair of free throws with 13.5 remaining.

The Illini opened the second half with a 15-8 run to cut Florida's lead to 49-46.

"I thought the second half was a matter of us just missing our shots," Peck said. "We had some good looks at open shots, but we just didn't make them. We have to get a better awareness of the shot clock in certain instances, and I think we hit a stretch where we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win."

A timeout late in the game seemed to spark the Gators offense. UF led by as many as six points down the stretch and finished the game with a 14-9 run after Illinois' Janelle Hughes made a 3-pointer to close the gap to 53-52 with 10:25 remaining.

NO. 6 RUTGERS 77, OLD DOMINION 41: The Scarlet Knights held the visiting Monarchs to two field goals in the last 14 minutes of the first half while going on a 30-8 run.

UT 82, ECKERD 52: The Spartans extended their win streak to six by holding the host Tritons to 25.8 percent shooting.

LATE THURSDAY: UCLA outshot Pepperdine 53.8-32.7 percent, forced 29 turnovers and reached a season high in points in a 95-56 win over the visiting Waves.

IOWA STATE 72, NO. 12 IOWA 60: The visiting Hawkeyes suffered their second loss to an unranked in-state rival in four days. The Cyclones forced the Hawkeyes into 20 turnovers, including five by Jeff Horner's replacement, Tony Freeman.

CLEMSON 80, E. TENNESSEE STATE 72: The host Tigers led by 15 early in the second half, but ETSU battled back behind the production of Tim Smith, who scored 10 straight to whittle it to 54-48 with 11:21 left.

UT 67, ECKERD 58: The visiting Spartans led by as many as 18 while holding the Tritons to their lowest scoring total this season, giving coach Richard Schmidt his 500th career win.

UTEP: Leading scorer Jason Williams apologized after his indefinite suspension for punching teammate Stefon Jackson and breaking his jaw during practice.

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:52:07]