University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs 'Flip The Page' Against Gators
March 02, 2026 | Women's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
The defensive plan on Sunday, Georgia head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said after her No. 23-ranked women's basketball team's 71-58 win over Florida, was to contain Gators star Liv McGill as much as possible. That the Lady Bulldogs did.
An explosive sophomore guard, McGill entered the regular-season finale second in the SEC in scoring at 22.8 points per game, having scored 20 or more points this season 17 times, including 14 with 25 or more. Against Georgia, she didn't reach figures for the first time this season.
"Anytime they set an on-ball screen or a dribble hand-off or anything, we're just going to double team her until she passed it. ... She's very scary; she's super skilled, so we were just staying on her, staying on her, and everybody on the back side, the three (defenders) in the back, had to just scramble," Coach ABE said after Georgia's 22nd win of the season.
Georgia, which harassed McGill as much as possible when she had the ball, and tried to stick to her like glue when she didn't, held her to a season-low 8 points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field (she went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line). McGill did have nine assists, but the Lady Bulldogs also forced her into five turnovers.
Coach ABE got a sense that the coaches' defensive strategy would work during practice in the days leading up to the game.
"In practice, for the last two days, our scout guy was breathing (heavily), and I said, Oh, this is going to work; she's going to be exhausted, because he was just breathing like crazy," Coach ABE said. "They really did an amazing job on her."
While Georgia did an excellent job shutting down Florida's top scoring threat, the Gators couldn't contain the Lady Bulldogs' top two options. Guard Dani Carnegie led all scorers with 26 points — her 13th game with 20 or more this season — and forward Mia Woolfolk scored all 20 of her points over the final three quarters. That's 11 straight games scoring in double figures for Woolfolk, who also had 10 rebounds Sunday.
Georgia, which is ranked No. 22 in this week's AP poll, only won 13 games last season, and Woolfolk said she's most proud "of how far we've come as a team" over the past year. The Lady Bulldogs only returned four players from last season's squad, and they've spoken often this season about how connected they are, which translates onto the court in how they play together.
"I mean, we've gone through so much adversity. Like, even now, we're playing with two bigs (post players) down, so we've just done so much together," the sophomore said. "Just like, the elephant in the room, we had a terrible game at Texas, and then we come out here and play the game that we know how to play. We're a team that can flip the page, and I just love that about it."
Last week at No. 4 Texas, the Longhorns cruised to a 79-50 win. Texas is one of the top teams in the country, with wins over No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 South Carolina and No. 7 Oklahoma, but it was how Georgia lost that was disappointing. Carnegie went 1-for-8 from the field and scored just 3 points, the Lady Bulldogs went 1-for-10 and scored just 7 points in the second quarter, and Georgia turned the ball over 24 times, which led to 27 points for the Longhorns.
It was a much different game against the Gators. Carnegie scored Georgia's first 8 points in the game, scoring inside and then hitting a pair of 3-pointers. The score was 13-2 midway through the opening quarter, and 18-9 heading into the second. Florida then got rolling for a little while, eventually tying the score 23-23, but then the Lady Bulldogs closed the half on a 12-0 run to make it 35-23.
During that run, guard Rylie Theuerkauf scored inside and hit a 3, Carnegie hit two free throws, Woolfolk scored inside, and then Carnegie capped it with a 3. And the run continued early in the third quarter, with Woolfolk scoring a basket and hitting two free throws to make it 39-23.
Georgia's largest lead was 24, 54-30, with 2:07 left in the third quarter, coming on a Carnegie layup. Florida kept battling and cut the lead to 13 by the end, but the Lady Bulldogs were in control throughout the second half.
"We focus on defense almost every day, so it's about time it translated," Woolfolk said. "I just feel like today goes to show that everything we do in practice does translate over as long as we lock in and focus in on it."
Georgia is the No. 8 seed in this week's SEC tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greenville, S.C. The Lady Bulldogs have a first-round bye and will play Thursday against the winner of Wednesday's game between Arkansas and No. 17-ranked Kentucky.
Staff Writer
The defensive plan on Sunday, Georgia head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said after her No. 23-ranked women's basketball team's 71-58 win over Florida, was to contain Gators star Liv McGill as much as possible. That the Lady Bulldogs did.
An explosive sophomore guard, McGill entered the regular-season finale second in the SEC in scoring at 22.8 points per game, having scored 20 or more points this season 17 times, including 14 with 25 or more. Against Georgia, she didn't reach figures for the first time this season.
"Anytime they set an on-ball screen or a dribble hand-off or anything, we're just going to double team her until she passed it. ... She's very scary; she's super skilled, so we were just staying on her, staying on her, and everybody on the back side, the three (defenders) in the back, had to just scramble," Coach ABE said after Georgia's 22nd win of the season.
Georgia, which harassed McGill as much as possible when she had the ball, and tried to stick to her like glue when she didn't, held her to a season-low 8 points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field (she went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line). McGill did have nine assists, but the Lady Bulldogs also forced her into five turnovers.
Coach ABE got a sense that the coaches' defensive strategy would work during practice in the days leading up to the game.
"In practice, for the last two days, our scout guy was breathing (heavily), and I said, Oh, this is going to work; she's going to be exhausted, because he was just breathing like crazy," Coach ABE said. "They really did an amazing job on her."
While Georgia did an excellent job shutting down Florida's top scoring threat, the Gators couldn't contain the Lady Bulldogs' top two options. Guard Dani Carnegie led all scorers with 26 points — her 13th game with 20 or more this season — and forward Mia Woolfolk scored all 20 of her points over the final three quarters. That's 11 straight games scoring in double figures for Woolfolk, who also had 10 rebounds Sunday.
Georgia, which is ranked No. 22 in this week's AP poll, only won 13 games last season, and Woolfolk said she's most proud "of how far we've come as a team" over the past year. The Lady Bulldogs only returned four players from last season's squad, and they've spoken often this season about how connected they are, which translates onto the court in how they play together.
"I mean, we've gone through so much adversity. Like, even now, we're playing with two bigs (post players) down, so we've just done so much together," the sophomore said. "Just like, the elephant in the room, we had a terrible game at Texas, and then we come out here and play the game that we know how to play. We're a team that can flip the page, and I just love that about it."
Last week at No. 4 Texas, the Longhorns cruised to a 79-50 win. Texas is one of the top teams in the country, with wins over No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 South Carolina and No. 7 Oklahoma, but it was how Georgia lost that was disappointing. Carnegie went 1-for-8 from the field and scored just 3 points, the Lady Bulldogs went 1-for-10 and scored just 7 points in the second quarter, and Georgia turned the ball over 24 times, which led to 27 points for the Longhorns.
It was a much different game against the Gators. Carnegie scored Georgia's first 8 points in the game, scoring inside and then hitting a pair of 3-pointers. The score was 13-2 midway through the opening quarter, and 18-9 heading into the second. Florida then got rolling for a little while, eventually tying the score 23-23, but then the Lady Bulldogs closed the half on a 12-0 run to make it 35-23.
During that run, guard Rylie Theuerkauf scored inside and hit a 3, Carnegie hit two free throws, Woolfolk scored inside, and then Carnegie capped it with a 3. And the run continued early in the third quarter, with Woolfolk scoring a basket and hitting two free throws to make it 39-23.
Georgia's largest lead was 24, 54-30, with 2:07 left in the third quarter, coming on a Carnegie layup. Florida kept battling and cut the lead to 13 by the end, but the Lady Bulldogs were in control throughout the second half.
"We focus on defense almost every day, so it's about time it translated," Woolfolk said. "I just feel like today goes to show that everything we do in practice does translate over as long as we lock in and focus in on it."
Georgia is the No. 8 seed in this week's SEC tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greenville, S.C. The Lady Bulldogs have a first-round bye and will play Thursday against the winner of Wednesday's game between Arkansas and No. 17-ranked Kentucky.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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