Tampa, FL (January 21, 2006) ? The University of South Florida women's basketball team fought through a lack-luster performance on Saturday night and pulled out a 53-47 win over Providence College in a BIG EAST game at the Sun Dome.
The win, the second straight for the Bulls, raises their record to 13-6 however more importantly improves them to 3-3 in league play.
“Let's start off by saying that I think the first half was one of the worst halves of basketball We've played since I've been here,” said USF head coach Jose Fernandez. “It was absolutely terrible. We missed shots, we had no value for the basketball, and we didn't get second shots. I don't understand it. We've played 18-19 games, and we came out and played the way we played. There is no excuse for it. I'm very, very disappointed in the way we played tonight.”
Both teams turned in dismal performances in the first half as the Friars took an 18-16 lead into the locker room at the intermission. The Bulls 16 points was the fewest scored in a half this season falling one?point short of the previous low 17 points in the first half at No. 7/8 North Carolina on Dec. 2 and at No. 3/3 LSU on Dec. 28.
The Friars (6-11, 1-5 BIG EAST) shot 23.3 percent (7-30) from the field, while the Bulls were just 7-31 (22.6 percent) in the first stanza.
USF would come out in the second half and looked like a new team using a 12-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, 28-18, with 16:29 left in the contest on a lay up by Rachael Sheats (Marietta, GA).
The Friars would fight back and eventually tie the game twice in the last 8:30 but could not get over the hump and take the lead.
The Bulls would finish the game shooting 31.7 percent from the field (20-63) while Providence shot 27.4 percent (17-62) on the night from the floor.
For USF, All-America candidate ? and the nation's leading scorer ? Jessica Dickson (Ocala, FL) scored 18 points on the night, seven points of her season average of 25.1 points per game.
Ezria Parsons (Bushnell, FL) was also in double figures with 10 points while also grabbing a team high nine rebounds.
Gayle Nwafili led Providence with 15 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, while Chelsea Marandola chipped in with 13 points in the loss.
Shantee Darien grabbed 13 rebounds for the Friars.
USF will have to put this game behind them as it enters one of its toughest weeks to date in BIG EAST play. The Bulls will travel to No. 5/5 Connecticut to face the Huskies on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and then, after returning home, will head to South Bend, IN to take on No. 24/22 Notre Dame on Saturday at noon.
