Gators women push to learn from loss to No. 1 South Carolina

GAINESVILLE — SEC schedule makers appeared to do the Florida women’s basketball team few favors pitting them against top-ranked juggernaut South Carolina to open league play.

Gators coach Kelly Rae Finley instead viewed Thursday’s night 89-66 loss at O’Connell Center as valuable experience for a program pushing to return to the NCAA Tournament.

“I love it. Our team loves it,” she said. “Any time you get the chance to play the best it’s going to be a really good thing for us.”

Finley sees long-term benefits exposing her players to the gold standard in the women’s game early in the season.

“There’s a lot of things to learn from this game,” she said. “It gives us an opportunity in our SEC opener.”

The top-ranked Gamecocks (14-0, 1-0 SEC) looked the part.

Dawn Staley’s juggernaut steamrolled the Gators (9-4, 0-1) to stake a 21-6 lead and pulled away for good with a 15-0 run to open the third quarter.

To reach the NCAA Tournament for the second time in Finley’s three seasons, the Gators will have to grow from the experience.

“We have a decision to make after this game,” veteran guard Zippy Broughton said. “We can either have a pity party for ourselves or use this as an opportunity to have good film and learn from it.”

The Gators were unable to match the Gamecocks’ talent, depth and experience.

Yet, Staley, whose 2017 and ’22 teams won national titles, gave Finley’s squad the ultimate compliment, praising the Gators’ hard-nosed play.

“They’ll win a lot of basketball games in our league if they continue to play as aggressively as they did with us,” Staley, a 53-year-old Hall of Fame player, said.

Finley was happy to hear her fellow coach’s observations.

“They’re physical, they’re strong, they’re skilled, they play hard, their transitions are elite,” she said. “That’s what our focus is.”

The Gators’ toughest matchup to date is likely to be the most difficult on the regular-season schedule. After all, South Carolina now won 55 of 56 games and 16 straight overall in their series with UF.

“There’s a reason they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Finley said.

Outside of a Feb. 5 trip to defending national champion LSU, the Gators will not face another opponent currently ranked in the Top 25.

Last season UF failed to build on a surprising debut season under Finley, finishing 5-11 in SEC play after going 10-6 and 21-11 overall to reach the 2022 Big Dance. A run to the 2023 WNIT quarterfinals left the Gators 18-15 and with some positive momentum after a difficult, injury-riddled season.

Shooting guard Leilani Correa battled a leg injury much of her first season after transferring from St. Johns. Against South Carolina, the 6-foot senior scored 17 straight points to finish the first half with 21 points and her team trailing 48-34.

“My team needed me,” she said. “Even before the game, I was just locked in.”

South Carolina took charge to open the third quarter as UF missed 7 field goals and committed 4 turnovers while the Gamecocks locked down Correa, who shot 2 of 5 after intermission but finished with a season-high 27 points.

“We just bore down and started defending them a lot better than we did in the first half,” Staley said.

UF center Ra Shaya Kyle’s layup with 6:01 remaining in the quarter were the first points for the Gators, who were outscored 25-12 to trail 73-46 entering the final 10 minutes.

Kyle totaled 12 points, but just 3 rebounds — 7.1 below her season average. A season ago, though, the 6-foot-6 senior was not fully recovered from an ACL tear before transferring from Purdue.

An off night by leading scorer Aliyah Matharu, who was 3 of 18 for 10 points, 9 below her average, was difficult to overcome against a team entering Thursday with an average winning margin of 41 points.

But the Gators expect better — and easier — days are ahead.

“We’ve been putting in the work,” Correa said.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com