Arizona makes 17-point comeback to defeat Florida in OT

Associated Press Arizona guard Reshea Bristol, foreground, is chased by teammate Julie Brase, center, as Bristol celebrates her last-second shot in regulation that forced an overtime with Florida during the first-round NCAA women's tournament game at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J., Friday, March 12, 1999. Also celebrating in background is Lakeisha Taylor. Arizona won 87-84.

No. 6 seed Arizona (18-10) overcame a 17-point deficit midway through the second half to defeat No. 11 seed Florida 87-84 in overtime.

"I like the win, but I don't like coming back and having a heart attack," UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said. "I'm just, obviously, very, very thankful we won tonight."

With 10 minutes to go, the Wildcats looked out of sync and frustrated.

Guards Felecity Willis and Reshea Bristol were on the bench with four fouls, and the outcome looked bleak.

But back came Arizona, with Bristol hitting a layup in traffic off a pass from junior guard Lisa Griffith with time expiring in regulation, sending the game to overtime at 77-77.

Florida had a five-point lead early in overtime, but Arizona continued to fight back.

Freshman LaKeisha Taylor, who had a career-high 12 points, followed a Bristol miss to make it 85-84 with 27.7 seconds remaining. After two Lackey free throws, Florida was forced to take a desperation three-pointer, with junior Tonya Washington missing well short.

Junior forward Angela Lackey scored a career-high 29 points to lead Arizona to an incredible and unthinkable victory.

"Felecity just told me I have to pick up my game and play harder out there," Lackey said.

"I didn't throw the cards in, I stayed with it.

"It's a great feeling to be in the tournament. You have to rise to the occasion."

Watching from the bench, Willis said she saw a change in the Florida team as Arizona mounted its comeback.

"I just told them to keep their heads up and keep playing the way they were playing,"

Willis told her teammates as she left the floor after her fifth foul. "We really picked our game up."

Willis had 12 points for the Wildcats, fouling out with 27.7 seconds to go while stopping

the clock and forcing Florida to take a free throw.

Washington finished with 23 for Florida, followed by junior Tiffany Travis with 20. Travis, who was Florida's go-to player as they built the lead in the second half, fouled out with 1:02 remaining.

"With 11 seconds, we weren't very specific about if Tonya or Brandi (McCain) should shoot the ball, we felt that we had two good options," Florida head coach Carol Ross said.

"It was a big shot in a big game. Tonya had played many minutes and didn't have the legs to get the ball to the basket."

Florida was 10 of 21 from the free throw line, but Ross wasn't making any excuses for the loss.

"I don't think it slipped away, you have to give Arizona credit for taking it away," he said.

It took Bonvicini a while to catch her breath after the game.

"The thing we never did was hang our heads down and we never gave up," she said.

Arizona will face the winner of Rutgers and Dartmouth, the game that followed the Arizona-Florida game, on Sunday night at 6:30 MST at the Louis Brown Athletic Center at Rutgers.