1 » Participating in the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament beginning on Thursday, Florida Gators women’s basketball did a great job beating the Arkansas Razorbacks 68-59 in the event’s opening round but ended up falling to the top-seeded No. 4 Tennessee Lady Vols 92-75 in quarterfinal action on Friday. Florida (18-14) saw five players reach double-digit point totals in the opening game with sophomore forward Jennifer George, junior guard Deana Allen and redshirt junior F Ndidi Madu scoring 12 a piece while freshman G Jaterra Bonds and redshirt junior G Jordan Jones each posted 11. Unfortunately for the Gators, the Lady Vols routed them for the third time this season, beating them by 17 Friday after wins of 43 and 22 earlier in the year. Allen (13), Madu (13), Bonds (12), Jones (10) all scored double-digit points while junior G Lanita Bartley led the team with 14.

2 » Achieving a much better outcome over the weekend was No. 2/3 Florida softball (19-0), which swept the 2011 Lipton Invitational at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL with five victories in three days. UF beat Valparaiso 13-4 and Syracuse 2-0 on Friday before throttling the North Dakota State 18-0 and Pacific 10-2 on Saturday. The Gators closed the tournament with a 9-0 victory over NDSU, combining to outscore them 27-0 in a two-game span. Florida senior right-handed pitcher Stephanie Brombacher (11-0) won three of the five games, only giving up one earned run and four hits in 14.2 innings while striking out 20. Finishing the sweep was freshman RHP Hannah Rogers (8-0), who spelled Brombacher and won both of her games while allowing two earned runs and seven hits while striking out 14 in 13 innings of work.

Senior second baseman Aja Paculba, sophomore outfielder Brittany Schutte and senior first baseman Megan Bush all had spectacular weekends. Paculba (9-17) hit a pair of homers while knocking in five RBI and scoring eight runs. Schutte (5-15) hit two home runs in the opening game and another each in the final two games to total four over the weekend along with 14 RBI, eight runs and six walks. Bush (8-16) was equally impressive with two homers, eight RBI, five runs and three walks. Not to be outdone, freshman third baseman Kasey Fagan hit a grand slam in the third game of the weekend, and sophomore catcher Kelsey Horton hit dingers in back-to-back games.

3 » No. 1 Gators gymnastics (12-1, 5-1 SEC) helped set a NCAA attendance record on Friday, defeating the No. 5 Utah Utes (7-2) 197.00-196.75 in front of 15,558 fans at the Huntsman Center. Florida won the match overall by capturing the vault, bars and beam team events even though they lost the floor by .075. Event winners included sophomore Ashanée Dickerson on the beam (9.875) and vault (9.90), where she tied freshman Alaina Johnson and sophomore Marissa King. Johnson and freshman Mackenzie Caquatto tied to win the bars (9.925), too. With the regular season now complete, UF will defend their SEC title at the 2011 SEC Championships beginning March 19.

4 » No. 1 Gators women’s tennis (13-1, 2-0 SEC) and No. 11 Florida men’s tennis (9-3, 2-0 SEC) each came away from their respective SEC opening weekends with a pair of decisive victories. The women swept the LSU Tigers (2-6, 0-1 SEC) 6-0 and No. 16 Arkansas 7-0 on the road, while the men stayed home and beat the Tigers (3-6, 0-1 SEC) 6-1 and Razorbacks (3-7, 0-2 SEC) 7-0. No. 7 sophomore Allie Will and No. 26 sophomore Lauren Embree won both of their singles matches over the weekend for the women, while No. 6 senior Alexandre Lacroix and No. 28 sophomore Sekou Bangoura, Jr. mirrored their performances on the men’s side.

Extra BIT » Continuing their steady rise in the sport, No. 14 Florida lacrosse (4-1) defeated the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (2-2) 15-10 after fighting back from a 5-5 tie on Saturday afternoon at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville. Standout sophomore midfielder Kitty Cullen once again led the way for the Gators with foul goals, while sophomore attacker Ashley Bruns added three of her own.
 

Tags: Aja Paculba, Alaina Johnson, Arkansas Razorbacks, Ashanée Dickerson, Ashley Bruns, Brittany Schutte, Deana Allen, Dizney Stadium, gymnastics, Hannah Rogers, Huntsman Center, Jaterra Bonds, Jennifer George, Jordan Jones, Kasey Fagan, Kelsey Horton, Kitty Cullen, lacrosse, Lanita Bartley, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, MacKenzie Caquatto, Megan Bush, NCAA, Ndidi Madu, Pressly Softball Stadium, SEC, SEC Championship, SEC Tournament, softball, Stephanie Brombacher, Tennessee Lady Vols, Utah Utes, women's basketball

1 » After a 13-year NFL career including 10 seasons as a feature running back, former Florida Gators star Fred Taylor’s professional career may very well be over. Carrying the ball only 43 times this season for the New England Patriots, Taylor has rushed for 11,695 yards and 66 touchdowns and caught 290 passes for 2,384 yards and eight more scores in his lengthy career. Injury plagued for most of his career, Taylor missed 36 games during his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars (he only played two games during the 2001 season) and has only started one game in two years with New England. Inactive for the Patriots’ sole playoff game this season, Taylor is getting an inkling that it may be time to hang up the cleats. Here is what he had to say after the game.

“I think at this point I’ve got a million things floating through my brain. It’s kind of hard to comprehend. None of it’s really clear. It’s kind of hard to play the game you love so much with the limitations [I had] last year, with the ankle, and not being able to do the things I know I can do. This year with the toes. It’s real tough and frustrating.

“I just have to take some time to be realistic. I kind of know what my body’s telling me, and what my family has been telling me, but I also know that this is what I’ve been programmed to do the majority of my life.

“I’ll probably just take some time, get the training this offseason. The camaraderie – being around the guys, it’s kind of hard to separate from that. I don’t want to be too fast in figuring [it out].”

2 » While the men were doing their best to win a close game on the road, the Florida women’s basketball team (12-8, 2-4 SEC) was at home dropping a similarly nail-biting contest to the Kentucky Wildcats (14-4, 3-2 SEC) 59-58 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Up double digits with just over five minutes left, the Gators allowed the Wildcats to take off on an 11-0 run and eventually take the lead, 55-54, with 1:13 remaining. Florida junior guard Deana Allen drained a dagger three-pointer to put her team ahead by one with 23.3 seconds left on the clock, but two free throws by Kentucky’s Victoria Dunlap (coupled with a missed buzzer beater by UF) allowed UK to claim the victory.

Tags: Deana Allen, Fred Taylor, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kentucky Wildcats, New England Patriots, NFL, O'Connell Center, SEC, Victoria Dunlap, women's basketball

1 » Facing the No. 19/16 Florida State Seminoles in a doubleheader Wednesday, No. 3/4 Florida Gators softball swept their rivals with consecutive 8-4 and 9-2 victories on the road at JoeAnne Graf Field in Tallahassee, FL. Florida (32-4, 12-2 SEC)’s winners were starters junior Stephanie Brombacher (21-4) and freshman Ensley Gammel (10-0), who tallied a combined 13.3 innings and eight strikeouts against FSU (36-10, 8-4 SEC). Freshman shortstop Brittany Walker went 4-7 on the day with two RBI, as junior second baseman Aja Paculba extended her hitting streak to 16 games – tying the longest in school history.

2 » “It was great to have all of that work,” Gators freshman cornerback Josh Shaw said of his playing time in the 2010 Orange & Blue Debut last weekend. “Some of it was good, some bad, but I feel like I’m getting better each time out.” Shaw, according to The Gainesville Sun is adjusting to his competitors’ speed and athleticism but is confident he will be able to follow in the footsteps of some of the team’s best cornerbacks.

3 » Florida men’s basketball may have lost out on two recruits Wednesday, but the women’s basketball and softball teams each brought in a new name. JuCo transfer guard Deana Allen (Houma, LA) has decided to join the Gators after averaging 19.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game at Pensacola Junior College. She is the fifth new recruit for the women’s team. Joining softball is utility player Chelsea Howell (Plantation, FL), the fourth player of her new team’s 2010-11 class.

4 » Interesting blog post today from Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald on new Kentucky Wildcats five-star guard commitment Brandon Knight, who had been leaning away from the Gators for quite some time. Some of the potential reasons he chose Kentucky aside from coaching and the school? “Exposure, creating the Brandon Knight brand, getting ready for the NBA, making money” and not playing with Kenny Boynton, Goodman writes.

Tags: Aja Paculba, Brandon Knight, Brittany Walker, Chelsea Howell, Deana Allen, Ensley Gammel, Florida State Seminoles, JoeAnne Graf Field, Josh Shaw, Kenny Boynton, Kentucky Wildcats, Orange & Blue Debut, Pensacola Junior College, softball, Stephanie Brombacher, women's basketball