Iwuchukwu Heats Up After Halftime as Florida Survives Chattanooga, 64-58

Florida spent most of Sunday afternoon in a defensive slugfest with Chattanooga. Junior Vivian Iwuchukwu got going in the second half, scoring 14 of her team-high 19 points after the intermission, and the Gators held on for a 64-58 road win that keeps them unbeaten at 3-0. The Mocs fall to 1-2.

For three quarters, offense was hard to find on both ends. Neither team led by more than six points through the first 30 minutes. Florida shot just 34.2 percent from the field in that stretch, while Chattanooga managed only 35.0 percent. The struggles were worse from beyond the arc, where the Gators went 2 of 14 and the Mocs hit 4 of 15. Florida scored just 12 points in each of the first two quarters, the fewest it has scored in a period this season, and added 17 in the third. Those were only the second, third and fourth quarters all year in which the Gators were held below 20 points.

Chattanooga came in with a clear plan to slow Kiyomi McMiller, the nation’s leading scorer, and it worked early. McMiller had just five points at halftime, and the Mocs sent doubles and traps at Florida’s guards whenever they touched the ball. That opened the door for Iwuchukwu, who posted her second straight double-digit scoring game. She punished Chattanooga inside after the break and moved the ball back out when the defense collapsed on her.

Both offenses finally picked up in the fourth quarter, and Florida struck first with a 5-0 run to open the frame and build a six-point cushion. The Mocs kept it close, and the Gators led only 54-51 with 5:24 to play. Aurora Almón then knocked down a pair of free throws, and buckets from McMiller and Vanessa Harris pushed the margin to its largest of the day, 60-51.

Chattanooga had one more push in it. Two late steals turned into points, and the Mocs cut the deficit to 62-58 with 18 seconds left. McMiller sealed it with two free throws at the 4.7-second mark, the final points of the afternoon, and Florida left Tennessee with a 64-58 victory and its undefeated record intact.

Florida’s defense and its trips to the line made the difference. The Gators went 19 for 28 at the free-throw line, while Chattanooga went 9 for 16. Florida also forced turnovers all afternoon and finished with a season-high 10 steals. Seven of those came in the first half, which tied the team’s previous best for a full game in 2026-27, and Harris had a career-high four. Those takeaways helped Florida win fast-break points 17-7. In the fourth quarter the Gators shot 47.1 percent, compared with 29.6 percent for the Mocs.

McMiller worked through the extra attention to finish with 16 points. For Chattanooga, Izzy McPherson scored 10 points in the first half, but the Gators held her to five after halftime. Gabbie Grooms and TaTianna Stovall each added 11 points for the Mocs.

Head coach Tammi Reiss said her team didn’t settle into its game plan until the final period.

“Coming into this game I knew they were going to double Kiy, trap her, and Vanessa as well, most of our aggressive, scoring guards,” Reiss said. “We really didn’t calm down until the fourth quarter and execute, but once we executed and got the ball where it was supposed to go and ran our offense, it looked really good. We did that for about ten minutes. So, not really happy with our overall execution of our game plan for three quarters, but that fourth quarter was nice. And it is always good to go on the road and get a win. You don’t want to have to lose and learn from a loss. I’d rather learn from a win.”

Iwuchukwu expects defenses to keep adjusting to her and says she’s ready for it.

“Teams are going to start keying on Kiyomi, but once I start having these kind of games, they are going to start collapsing on me too,” Iwuchukwu said. “Even today, they adjusted so fast midgame, and I was able to find my teammates whenever they did collapse, so I’m just going to continue to do that. I try not to take bad shots, so if they collapse on me, I try to throw it out immediately. I won’t force anything, because I know I have great shooters on the perimeter.”

The win moves Florida to 4-3 all-time against Chattanooga. The Gators return home Thursday to face South Florida, with tip-off at 6 p.m. ET on SECN+.