Florida Women’s Basketball: Still Building

After a historic weekend at the SEC tournament Kelly Rae Finley credits her seniors for laying the foundation.

By Loren Meadows, GatorBaitMedia.com

GREENVILLE, SC-- While most of the Gator faithful attention was focused on the beginning of spring football and the debut of prep star DJ Lagway, the Florida women’s basketball program was putting the SEC on present and future notice knocking off the 6th-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores in the 3rd round of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The Gators, who opened the tournament by defeating Missouri, secured their second win at the SEC tournament for the first time since 1997 when they were led by Carol Ross the winningest coach in Florida history.

Unfortunately the were knocked out in a tough loss to Ole Miss, who had previously beaten Florida twice in the regular season.

With an NCAA net ranking of 60, the Gators have an outside chance to make the NCAA tournament.

With the historic win Kelly Rae Finley is building a program that will eventually find the Gators in the top tier of the SEC on a yearly basis. The addition of McDonald’s All-Americans Liv McGill and Me’Arah O’Neil to go along with freshman Leila Reynolds, a 2023 McDonald’s honoree has put the Florida Gators on the map as a destination for some of the nation’s top talent.

If you ask Finley what has led to the resurgence of the Florida Gators she will say that while going 3-for 3 on McDonald’s All Americans is always a plus it is the foundation of her three seniors that have laid the foundation for what is to come in Gainesville.

The Gators at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, SC (GatorBait photo)

Zippy Broughton, Faith Dut, and Lielani Correa have cemented their legacy as members of the Florida basketball team. Broughton has been one of the SEC’s most versatile combo guards in her two seasons on the floor and is a vibrant breath of fresh air off of it. A member of the SEC’s Good Works Team Broughton also represented women’s program as a member of the GatorMade contingent that traveled to Greece in the summer of 2022. Faith Dut is the Gator women’s program personified.

An extension of Finley on the floor, Dut has been the spiritual leader of the program this season and is truly emotional when speaking about the Florida Gators and her relationship with her coach. “I have so much pride in being a Florida Gator,” Dut stated recently. “Me and Kelly had been through a lot these last couple of years and we have always done it together.

"I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else, I’m so grateful for Kelly”. 

Correa the SEC’s reigning Sixth Women of the Year rounds out the building blocks of Finley’s senior class. Finley asked Correa to come off the bench this season to balance out the Gators rotation and with the support of her parents accepted her role and flourished. Correa scored 21.4 points per game in SEC play and is the only player in the SEC averaging 20 points off the bench.

Correa, who transferred from St. Johns in 2023 has accumulated 2,107 career points which is the record across both the men’s and women’s basketball programs.

“Our seniors are elite," stated Finley. “They’ve done some pretty remarkable things. I thought over the course of this season and in this tournament we took a lot of positive steps forward thanks to Faith, Zippy and Leilani. They sacrificed a lot for the University of Florida and our women’s basketball team and I’m extremely proud of them.” 

 Senior Zippy Broughton (GatorBait photo)

Unfortunately for the Gators their SEC tournament run would come to an end Friday evening with a loss to the 4th-seeded Ole Miss Rebels 84-74. Despite the loss, Finley remained reserved and humble. While other coaches in the conference have resorted to loud, more brazen antics, tantrums and misguided hostilities to bring attention to themselves, Finley remained focused on the future of her program and her players. “

We lost several games by one possession, two possession or less. We just need to learn how to close those games” stated Finley. “I love who they are, I love what they stand for, I love how they carry themselves.”

With two wins in the tournament the Gators are currently 16-15, giving Finley her third straight winning season in as many years as interim or head coach.

If the Gators fail to get an invite to the NCAA, a winning record also makes them a candidate for the inaugural 32-team Women’s Basketball Tournament reserved for the top 32-teams who do not receive and NCAA invite. The selections for the Women’s NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday on ESPN.

 #kellyskicks (GatorBait photo)