Tampa, FL (February 10, 2007) ? The University of South Florida women's basketball team placed four players in double figures and nearly overcame a 15-point first half deficit only to have visiting Pittsburgh find a way to squeak out a 69-65 win over the Bulls at the Sun Dome Saturday night.
USF (17-7, 7-4 BIG EAST) trailed by nine points, 12-3, just four minutes and 15 second into the contest and couldn't find the basket throughout the first half hitting 28.1 percent from the field (9-32) during the first stanza.
Pittsburgh (19-5, 7-4 BIG EAST) would take advantage of the Bulls' cold shooting to carry its biggest lead, 43-28, into the locker room at the intermission.
USF would fight its way back into the game with a 9-0 run out of the gate to cut the lead to six and make the score 43-37 with 16:18 left in the game.
The Panthers would never let the Bulls get closer than five points, twice, before raising the lead back to 12 with 5:42 left in the game on a Xenia Stewart jumper.
USF, however, would use a 15-5 run capped off by a lay up by Shantia Grace (Sarasota, FL) to cut the lead to two points, 66-64, with 1:13 left.
After Stewart had her shot blocked by Nalini Miller (Capital Heights, MD) with 50 seconds remaining she would get her own rebound and get fouled on the field goal attempt.
Stewart would hit the front end of the two shot free throw to make the score 67-64. After missing the second Jessica Dickson (Ocala, FL), grabbed one of her 11 rebounds dishing off to Grace who would miss a jumper with 14 seconds left.
After getting fouled, Pitt's Sylvie Tafen would hit two free throws to ice the game.
Grace would lead the way for USF with 23 points and eight assists while Miler would have another huge game with 14 points, 13 rebounds ? including 10 offensive ? six blocked shots and three steals. Her 10 rebounds on the offensive glass are tied for the seventh most in school single-game history. In addition, Miller's 14 points brings her six points shy of becoming the 15th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
Dickson, despite shooting a dismal 2-18 from the field for the night, scored 10 points in addition to her 11 rebounds.
Rachael Sheats also had 12 points in the loss.
Stewart paced the way for the Panthers with 21 points while Marcedes Walker had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Shavonte Zellous added 17 points.
The Bulls will be back in action on Tuesday at Providence with tip-off coming at 7 p.m. The game can be heard live on 860-AM WGUL with Tom Krasniqi.
