GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Trailing 69-65 with seven minutes left to play, No. 22 Florida tightened its collective belt and responded with 15 unanswered points to take an exciting 80-72 win over visiting Alabama before an O'Connell Center crowd of 1,305 on Thursday night.
Freshman guard Eleanna Christinaki led the way for the Gators with a team-high 16 points, sophomore Ronni Williams scored 13 points and freshman guard Simone Westbrook added 11.
“There's no one in this league that you can ever count out or feel comfortable about with any size lead,” Florida coach Amanda Butler said. “You've got to give Alabama a lot of credit for their play down the stretch in the second quarter, and then they dominated the third quarter.