ATHENS — Jasmine James has yet to lose a game in her college basketball career.
James scored 17 points to help No. 8 Georgia remain unbeaten with a 61-52 victory over Florida on Sunday night.
“It feels great,” the freshman said. “I want to try to keep it that way as long as possible.”
The Lady Dogs (16-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) are off to the best start in school history and are one of five remaining unbeaten teams in Division I basketball. Senior center Angel Robinson, who scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, has seen enough to know that she needs to be looking forward and not back.
“It is a great thing,” she said.
“I am not complaining about it. But I don’t want our team to lose its focus. I will focus on that after the season. Wow, we were 16-0, 17-0, 18-0. Right now I am just working on what can we change to be a better team.”
Free throw shooting may be at the top of the list for the Lady Dogs. Georgia missed 13 of 24 free throws, and James herself missed eight of 12.
“It’s mental, definitely mental,” James said. “I don’t think we are a bad free-throw shooting team. It is kind of like a sickness. One person starts it and everybody else kind of catches on. I feel like it is mental, a loss of focus.”
Georgia coach Andy Landers saw some positive in the free throw woes.
“We still made more than Florida attempted,” he said.
“That tells me we are being aggressive with the basketball. We have been there all year. But a 61-point game could have been a 71-point game if we hit our free throws.”
Jordan Jones scored 13 points and Jennifer Mossor added 11 for Florida (9-7, 2-1).
“I thought our play was very inconsistent,” Florida coach Amanda Butler said. “We did not do a good job of establishing ourselves in the paint. We were real streaky with our shooting. The thing that jumps out at me is the turnovers in the first half. We could not get into any kind of flow because we could not handle the ball well.”
Georgia led 33-17 with just 2:40 remaining in the first half after Porsha Phillips’ steal and layup.
But the Gators hit three 3-pointers in 90 seconds to get as close as 33-26 at the half.
A 3-pointer by Robinson 3 minutes into the second half pushed the lead back to a dozen.
The closest Florida could get was eight points at 51-43 with 3:59 to play after a layup by Azania Stewart.
James scored 17 points to help No. 8 Georgia remain unbeaten with a 61-52 victory over Florida on Sunday night.
“It feels great,” the freshman said. “I want to try to keep it that way as long as possible.”
The Lady Dogs (16-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) are off to the best start in school history and are one of five remaining unbeaten teams in Division I basketball. Senior center Angel Robinson, who scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, has seen enough to know that she needs to be looking forward and not back.
“It is a great thing,” she said.
“I am not complaining about it. But I don’t want our team to lose its focus. I will focus on that after the season. Wow, we were 16-0, 17-0, 18-0. Right now I am just working on what can we change to be a better team.”
Free throw shooting may be at the top of the list for the Lady Dogs. Georgia missed 13 of 24 free throws, and James herself missed eight of 12.
“It’s mental, definitely mental,” James said. “I don’t think we are a bad free-throw shooting team. It is kind of like a sickness. One person starts it and everybody else kind of catches on. I feel like it is mental, a loss of focus.”
Georgia coach Andy Landers saw some positive in the free throw woes.
“We still made more than Florida attempted,” he said.
“That tells me we are being aggressive with the basketball. We have been there all year. But a 61-point game could have been a 71-point game if we hit our free throws.”
Jordan Jones scored 13 points and Jennifer Mossor added 11 for Florida (9-7, 2-1).
“I thought our play was very inconsistent,” Florida coach Amanda Butler said. “We did not do a good job of establishing ourselves in the paint. We were real streaky with our shooting. The thing that jumps out at me is the turnovers in the first half. We could not get into any kind of flow because we could not handle the ball well.”
Georgia led 33-17 with just 2:40 remaining in the first half after Porsha Phillips’ steal and layup.
But the Gators hit three 3-pointers in 90 seconds to get as close as 33-26 at the half.
A 3-pointer by Robinson 3 minutes into the second half pushed the lead back to a dozen.
The closest Florida could get was eight points at 51-43 with 3:59 to play after a layup by Azania Stewart.