Bait & Bits: Women’s Basketball Drops Close One, #SECSD14, Lacrosse Wins, and a Busy Weekend

January 13, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators head coach Amanda Butler against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers during the first half at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: ©Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Bait & Bits, a series on Hail Florida Hail that will feature one “bait” about an opposing school and some bits about the Gators. Have any links that you want on Bait & Bits? Tweet it at us @HailFloridaHail or @BrettKaplan13 or email it to us at BrettKaplanHFH@gmail.com.

Bait

2014 Lipton Invitational. Florida softball is off to a fast 12-0 start this season and have garnered the nation’s top ranking. The other four teams taking part in the 2014 Lipton Inviational hosted by the Gators have a combined 16 wins between them. The Indiana Hoosiers (1-9), Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (5-1), Troy Trojans (4-5-1), and Georgia Southern Eagles (6-3) all will face Florida at least once. The Gators have a chance to surpass the 16-win mark this weekend with six games against these teams.

Bits

Women’s Basketball Falls to Missouri. Despite hitting three more shots than the Missouri Tigers (16-10, 5-8 SEC), Florida’s women’s basketball team (17-9, 7-6 SEC) dropped a close one 81-76 in the O’Connell Center. Mizzou used 12 three-pointers for the difference in the game. Kayla Lewis led the Gators with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort. Up next for Florida is a trip to Columbia, SC to take on the fourth-ranked, SEC leading South Carolina Gamecocks (24-2, 12-1 SEC).

Swimming & Diving Continues to Succeed at SEC Championship. It’s been a strong showing for Florida’s swimming and diving teams at the SEC Championship. The Gators continued their success Thursday. UF added two men’s and two women’s titles to put Florida in great position. For the men, Marcin Cieslak won the 100m fly, his third SEC Championship of the meet, and Sebastien Rousseau took the 200m individual medley over Cieslak to win his second individual SEC title. On the women’s side, Elizabeth Beisel won her fourth straight SEC gold in the 400m individual medley and Ellese Zalewski won the 100m butterfly to win her first SEC title. The top-ranked men sit atop the standings with a 52 point lead and the fourth-ranked women are in second after day three of the 2014 SEC Championship. GatorZone has the full details.

Lacrosse Wins Third Straight. After dropping the season opener to the top-ranked UNC Tar Heels, the No. 7 Gators (3-1) have come back to win three straight with their latest triumph over James Madison (1-1), a team receiving votes in the IWLCA Coaches Poll, 21-8. Sophomore Carly Ross had a career game for Florida with five goals. Seven Gators scored with all of them scoring multiple goals. Goalkeepers Mary-Sean Wilcox and Cara Canington saved five and two shots respectively. Florida finishes up their four-game home stand against Cincinnati.

Very Busy Weekend for Gators. A total of nine University of Florida teams will be in action this weekend, with the majority of them competing away from home. Today, the No. 1 men’s and No. 4 women’s swimming and diving teams will compete in the second-to-last day of the 2014 SEC Championship at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, GA, the top-ranked softball team kicks off the 2014 Lipton Invitational at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on UF campus, hosting Troy (4 pm) and Indiana (6:15 pm), the top-ranked gymnastics host the annual Link to Pink meet against LSU in the O’Connell Center at 7 pm looking for five straight meets with a perfect 10 score, and the 20th ranked baseball team heads to Alex Rodriguez Park to tangle with the in-state rival, 17th-ranked Miami Hurricanes. Saturday’s schedule is even busier with the swimming and diving teams finishing up competition at the SEC Championship, softball again facing Troy (noon) and Indiana (2:15 pm), No. 2 men’s basketball traveling to Oxford to take on Ole Miss at noon, fifth-ranked women’s tennis team traveling to California to face No. 38 St. Mary’s College at 4 pm, and baseball playing game two against Miami at 7 pm. Sunday is just as busy, getting started with the 14th ranked women’s golf team competing at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, No. 7 lacrosse hosting Cincinnati at 11:30 am, softball finishing up the Lipton Invitational against Coastal Carolina (noon) and Georgia Southern (2:15 pm), women’s basketball facing the No. 4 Gamecocks in South Carolina at 1 pm, baseball fiinishing up their series with Miami in Coral Gables at 1 pm, and women’s tennis facing the third-ranked Stanford Cardinal at 3 pm. Not to mention, eight Gators are competing in the NFL Scouting Combine this weekend in Indianapolis.

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