Miami, FL (January 2, 2006) ? The University of South Florida women's basketball team ended the non-conference portion of its 2005-06 schedule tonight with a 63-50 win at Florida International.
The win gets the Bulls back on the winning track after an 87-44 setback to No. 3/3 LSU last Friday in Baton Rouge. The win also marks the second best 14-game start in school history. Only the 1976-77 team which went 12-2 had a better start.
USF (11-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) used a 9-2 run early in the first half to take a 13-4 lead only to have the Golden Panthers eventually come back and cut the lead to one, 27-26, with 2:13 left in the half. USF used 40 percent (14-35) shooting from the floor in the first stanza, and eight points from Ezria Parsons (Bushnell, FL) to take a 29-26 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
The Bulls got out of the gate quickly in the second half using a 6-2 start to give themselves an early cushion, 35-28 with 15:48 left in the contest.
After both teams exchanged baskets, USF would lead 47-41 with 8:19 left before putting together a 15-0 run to ice the game with 3:37 left in the contest. The Bulls' 19-point lead at that time. 60-41 would mark their largest lead of the game.
Rachael Sheats (Marietta, GA) and Jessica Dickson (Ocala, FL) would lead the Bulls with 17 points, and Ezria Parsons would add her third career double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Nalini Miller (Capital Heights, MD) added nine points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots. She became the all-time leading shot blocker in school history with 108.
USF will resume BIG EAST Conference play on Sunday, Jan. 8 when the Bulls travel to Pittsburgh for a 2 p.m. contest. The game will be televised as part of the BIG EAST Game of the Week package and can be seen live on Catch 47 in the Tampa Bay area. In addition, the game can also be heard on WTBN 570 & 910 AM with Tom Krasniqi doing the play-by-play.
