Florida women’s basketball team is in Indianapolis, readying to play for a spot in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) final, but coach Kelly Rae Finley’s is elsewhere.
Why is the Gators’ head coach not with her team for Monday’s WBIT semifinal?
Because she’s now officially a mother!
Finley gave birth to her first child – a baby boy named Laken – Monday at 5 a.m. back in Gainesville. ESPN broke the news before UF’s game vs. Minnesota and was later confirmed to the Gainesville Sun by a team spokesperson.
Both mom and baby are happy, healthy and are ready to watch the Gators.
The Alligator reported Sunday that Finley would not travel with the team to the Hinkie Fieldhouse in Indianapolis due to her pregnancy. Finley’s due date had been around late March/early April.
Finley has tried to keep her pregnancy under wraps, but she’s still gotten the attention of other coaches – including LSU’s Kim Mulkey. Remarkably, Finley coached every game this season prior to Monday – including Thursday’s quarterfinal home win over Texas Tech. She traveled cross-country last weekend for UF’s dramatic win Sunday at UNLV.
Assistant coach Susie Gardner is coaching the Gators in Finley’s place. Gardner was Mercer’s head coach from 2010-2024, where she made the NCAA Tournament four times.
If Florida beats the Golden Gophers, it’ll face Belmont Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2 in search of its first postseason title in program history.
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: It’s a boy! Florida women’s basketball coach Kelly Rae Finley gives birth on Gators game day
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
