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TAMPA, Fla. ? The University of South Florida women's basketball team extended its winning streak to four games tonight with a 75-68 win over North Florida in the Sun Dome. The Bulls' fourth consecutive victory marks the longest winning streak for the team since opening the 2006-07 campaign with seven straight wins.
“I think that we could have played much better defensively,” said USF head coach Jose Fernandez. “I was extremely proud of the way Gianna Messina and ChiChi Okpaleke tonight. I thought that they played with a lot of effort and a lot of heart. But here's the thing, we go 21-38 and a lot of those were the front ends of one-and-one's. We left a lot of points on the free throw line tonight. We haven't shot 70 percent from the free throw line in one game this year and that has to change in order for us to win in the BIG EAST.”
Jessica Lawson led USF with her second straight double-double as she netted 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. It was her fourth double-double of her career ? dating back to her time at California - and the third while playing for the Bulls.
Tampa native Gianna Messina poured in a career 15 points while Shantia Grace added 13 in the win.
ChiChi Okpaleke also logged her first double-double of the season ? and the fourth of her career ? with a 12-point, 12-rebound effort.
USF (6-2) came out on top, however, didn't find North Florida (2-5) to be any pushover. After extending the lead to as many as 13 points twice in the first half the Bulls let the Lady Ospreys close the first half on a 12-4 run over the last 6:08 to cut the lead to four at the intermission, 36-32.
USF would come out in the second half and open the game up with a 26-9 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half and take a 58-41 lead on a Porche Grant lay-up with 9:52 left in the game.
North Florida cut the lead to eight points twice in the final 33 seconds and seven points with 17 seconds remaining in the game but could not get any closer.
The Bulls will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. when it faces their final in-state foe of the season in Florida A&M.
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