Despite being plagued by sloppy passes, No. 19 Georgia (14-3, 3-1 SEC) held off a late rally by Florida (11-6, 1-3) to pick up a 61-55 victory at home Thursday night.

Mistakes aside, Lady Dogs head coach Andy Landers thought his team played with heart.

ANDY LANDERS

“The best thing about it was I wasn’t concerned about effort,”  he said. “We played hard. It was hard-fought. It was aggressive. It was athletic. It was a competition…So I gotta be pleased with that.”

Though the Gators jumped to a 2-0 lead early in the first half, they were unable to sustain their offensive momentum.

After trading buckets for the first 10 minutes, Georgia went on a 10-2 run, pulling away to a 19-10 lead with 6:32 left in the first half.

Sophomore guard Khaalidah Miller contributed eight of the points during that stretch, sparking the run with a 3-pointer on her way to scoring 10 points in the first half.

The Lady Bulldogs didn’t look back, maintaining a comfortable lead through the rest of the half.

Junior Anne Marie Armstrong punctuated a stellar 20 minutes with a steal and layup in the final seconds before the Bulldogs went into the locker room up 29-16.

“We did a really good job in the first half having a lot of energy,” Jasmine James said. “Anne Marie [Armstrong] started very well and just being able to get some steals and get some easy baskets.”

A team known for rebounding, Florida out-rebounded the Bulldogs 24-20 in the first half, though it also led 12-9 in turnovers.

Georgia’s defense held the Gators to a 1-of-12 shooting performance from behind the 3-point line.

Landers was proud of how his team played defensively.

“We were effective trapping,” he said. “We were effective rotating. We did as good a job as you can expect to do one-on-one…We doubled down on the post very very well. We did good.”

The Lady Bulldogs started out the second half in sloppy fashion, adding four quick turnovers on their way to 15 in the final 20 minutes.

“The only thing that I did not like about the game was the sloppiness of the passing, the carelessness and the nonchalant passes that resulted in quick Florida players making plays,” Landers said.

The Gators kept pace with Georgia before having a run of their own midway through the half that was sparked by a 3-pointer scored off of a Jasmine Hassell turnover.

Deana Allen, Jordan Jones and Jennifer George each scored three points on three consecutive Florida possessions to cut Georgia’s lead to 40-37 with 9:26 remaining in the second half.

The Lady Bulldogs kept their composure, adding an immediate three-pointer by Miller and a jumper by Krista Donald to widen the lead to 45-37 with 7:23 to go in the half.

But Georgia once again found itself in hot water when Florida cut the lead to four with 2:31 left in the game thanks to two more 3-pointers by Jones and a pair of free throws by Jaterra Bonds.

“They kept chipping and chipping away at the lead, and Jordan’s [Jones] streak just put them back in,” Armstrong said. “I just knew we needed to buckle down and run our stuff, execute and just play smart.”

Once again, Georgia went on a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 59-51 with 21 seconds left in the game.

“There were times when we got down, but we didn’t crack under pressure and I think that really helped us and pushed us forward,” Miller said. “We couldn’t afford to crack under pressure.”

Miller and Armstrong finished the game with 19 points apiece, though Armstrong contributed 10 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 24 turnovers.

Georgia’s leading scorer — junior forward Jasmine Hassell — was relatively quiet throughout the game, managing only 4 points and sitting out because of foul trouble.

Georgia heads to Starkville on Sunday to take on Mississippi State in its next contest.

Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.