TAMPA, Fla. (January 16, 2007) ? Sophomore guard Shantia Grace (Sarasota, FL) scored 20 points and dished a season-high 11 assists in the University of South Florida's 74-58 victory over No. 15/15 Louisville Tuesday night in the Sun Dome.
The win marks the second-highest ranked team that USF has defeated. Last season it defeated No. 11 DePaul, 79-77 in overtime, on Dec. 7, 2005 in both schools' inaugural BIG EAST opener.
Grace hit 6-17 overall, 2-5 from long range and 6-6 at the line while ripping four steals for the 14-4 (4-1 BIG EAST) Bulls.
USF opened fire on the Cardinals hitting seven of its first 10 shots from behind the arc, including three bombs from senior All-America and National Player of the Year candidate Jessica Dickson (Ocala, FL), two from junior guard Dai Packer (Jundiai, Brazil) and one apiece from Grace and senior Tristen Webb (Stone Mountain, GA).
The Bulls took the double-digit lead with 13 minutes remaining in the half and finished the first 20 minutes ahead of the nationally-ranked Cardinals 35-22.
After the half, Louisville broke into the USF lead, bringing the game within seven at the 17:44 mark, but after an eight-minute see-saw battle, the Bulls extended the margin to 10 points (or more) for the remainder of the game.
Dickson added 15 points and nine rebounds to the Bulls' 74-58 victory while senior forward Nalini Miller (Capital Heights, MD) notched her third double-double of the season with 16 rebounds and 12 points.
Junior forward ChiChi Okpaleke scored 10 points and had seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block in 30 minutes on the hardwood.
As a team, USF hit 8-18 (44.4 percent) from long range, while holding the Cardinals to 6.7 percent (1-15) from behind the arc.
The Bulls scored 27 points off 22 Louisville miscues and outscored the Cardinals 11-4 in fast-break points.
USF next hits the road Jan. 20 to play Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania at 2 p.m., then plays at Syracuse on Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
USF Postgame Notes
- USF won its second straight game, and its third game in the past four, with its 74-58 win over No. 151/15 Louisville in the Sun Dome ... The win was only the Bulls' second over the Cardinals in the all-time series (Louisville leads 18-2) but it was their second straight at home.
- USF improves its record to 14-4 and 4-1 in the BIG EAST ... It is the second best start in school history behind only the 1976-77 team that finished the year 15-4.
- USF's win marked the second-highest ranked team that it has ever defeated ... Louisville was ranked No. 15 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls ... The highest ranked team that the Bulls ever defeated was No. 11 DePaul, 79-77 in overtime, on Dec. 7, 2005 ... That game was the inaugural BIG EAST Conference opener for both schools.
- Louisville was the fourth Top 25 team that the Bulls have faced in the past 11 games this season.
- Jessica Dickson became USF's all-time leader in career games started with 110 ? out of 110 collegiate games ? surpassing Angie Snyder's 109 set from 1989-92 ... Dickson's 110 games played is three games from tying and four from surpassing Alana Tanksley (2001-05) who currently has 113 games played for her career.
- Dickson fell one rebound shy, for the third time this year, of a double-double.
- Nalini Miller grabbed her 700th career rebound with her first board of the evening ... She became the fifth player in school history to reach the 700-rebound plateau and finished the game with 715 for her career, just 14 boards from tying Ezria Parsons (2001-06) and 15 from surpassing her into fourth place on the school's all-time rebounding list... She recorded her second straight double-double, the third of the season and the 15th of her career ... It was her fifth double-figure rebound outing of the season and her second straight.
- Shantia Grace's double-double was the first of the season and the fourth of her career ... Her 10 assists were a season-high and the most since handing out 12 at Cincinnati on Jan. 15, 2006.
