Gators overcome early deficit with blowout over Cougars

ROBBY FLETCHER Sports Editor

It hasn’t happened too often over the course of this season, but the Saint Gertrude Gators found themselves in an early hole on the home court of the Collegiate Cougars on Jan. 31.

The Cougars, who are 6-9 on the year, had revenge on their minds after a 69-46 loss at the hands of the Gators earlier in the season and led 12-4 at one point in the second meeting.

At the end of the first quarter, the Gators got the deficit down to 12-8 with a buzzer-beater from freshman Alexa Gillikin. The Gators needed just a few minutes to take back the lead in the second quarter, and they never looked back, cruising to a 70-36 win to move to 19-4 on the season.

The Gators have won plenty of games in blowout fashion this year – nine by 20 or more points to be exact – but the way in which this particular blowout came to be was particularly unique with the Gators trailing early.

The Gators took control thanks to a wild 26-0 run in the second quarter where the Cougars couldn’t buy a bucket while everything seemed to be falling for the Gators.

The Cougars scored just a single point in the second quarter, while Saint Gertrude saw star forward Erin Woodson catch fire alongside Ava Fulkerson and Sam Smith to put the Gators far ahead with a 3513 halftime lead.

In the third quarter,