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UF Women Beat Temple; UConn Up Next

The Associated Press

Florida's Marshae Dotson blocks a shot by Temple's Shanea Cotton during the second half of Sunday's game.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 23, 2009

Updated: 03/23/2009 09:00 am

STORRS, Conn. - Florida matched a school record for victories in a season on Sunday. Breaking that record will be a much bigger challenge.

Sha Brooks scored 18 points and the eighth-seeded Gators (24-7) beat Temple 70-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Florida gets undefeated and top-seeded UConn next, after the Huskies routed Vermont 104-65 earlier in the day.

"We're happy to be in that situation," said Marshae Dotson, who had 13 points for the Gators. "We have to play better than we did today. We're really going to have to put two great halves together to be prepared for Tuesday."

Steffi Sorensen had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Gators, who led just 43-39 in the second half before scoring nine straight to take control of the game.

"We came out and shot the ball well and stayed composed," Sorensen said. "We went on our runs and they went on theirs. The big thing is we started rebounding more. We were getting hands on them and were grabbing the loose balls. In the end it all came together for us and that was the biggest thing."

Temple used its press to try and get back into it. But the Owls were 0-for-12 from 3-point range, while Florida hit six of 13 shots from behind the arc.

Shenita Landry scored 13 points for the ninth-seeded Owls (21-10). Shanea Cotton and Kristen McCarthy each added 12.

Temple had won 10 of its final 12 games coming into the tournament, while Florida had lost five of its last six.

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