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If you weren't there ...
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| The University of South Florida women's basketball team fell just short against East Carolina Sunday in the Sun Dome, as the Pirates defeated the Bulls, 63-60, in the championship game of the USF Shootout.
Senior Janae Stokes was one of four players for USF in double figures, leading the way with 15 points. Junior Sequoyah Griffin posted 12, while senior Jessica Lawson and Melissa Dalembert chipped in with 11 and 10, respectively, for USF (8-4).
USF outshot the Pirates in all facets of the game: from the floor (44.4-40.8), 3-point range (41.7-35.7) and free throws (93.8-78.3) however could not come up with the win.
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2 |
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ECU
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38 |
25 |
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63 |
| USF |
34 |
26 |
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60 |
| Scoring Leaders |
| Player |
FG-A
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3FG-A
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FT-A
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TP
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| ECU - Wilson |
5-8 |
0-0 |
4-6 |
14 |
| USF - Stokes |
5-11 |
5-9 |
0-0 |
15 |
| Rebounding Leaders |
| Player |
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ECU - Wilson
ECU - Clarke |
2
3 |
4
3 |
6
6 |
| USF - Dalembert |
2 |
6 |
8 |
| Misc. Leaders |
| Player |
Steals
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Assists
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Blocks
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| ECU - Wilson |
3 |
5 |
0 |
| USF- Griffin |
1 |
3 |
0 |
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TAMPA - The University of South Florida women's basketball team placed four players in double figures, shot 44.4 percent from the field, and a season best 93.8 percent from the free throw line, but that wasn't enough as East Carolina handed the Bulls a tough 63-60 loss in the championship game of the USF Shootout Sunday afternoon.
Janae Stokes scored 15 points and Sequoyah Griffin added 12 points in the loss. Jessica Lawson and Melissa Dalembert chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively.
USF (8-4) knew coming into the contest that it would have its hands full with the Pirates (10-1), former conference-mates of the Bulls during their stint in Conference USA.
USF jumped out by four points early on in the game when Jasmine Wynne connected on two free throws just 2:15 into the contest only to have East Carolina come right back and take its first lead of the contest, 9-6, on a three-pointer by Allyson Spivey with 14:46 left in the half.
Both teams would go back-and-forth through the remainder first half with five lead changes over the next 11 minutes. However, it would be the Pirates that would make the first big push right before the intermission getting their lead to seven points, 38-31, on a jumper by Crystal Wilson with 1:19 left in the half.
Stokes would hit her fourth three-point shot of the first half with 58 seconds left before the break to cut the deficit to 38-34.
Stokes would finish the first 20 minutes with 12 points.
Neither team seemed to want to pull away in the second half as both teams would find themselves deadlocked eight times following the intermission.
The Bulls would regain their lead just under eight minutes into the final stanza when Lawson broke a 44-all tie, with 12:05 left in the game, connecting on two free throws to put USF up 46-44.
East Carolina then used a 10-4 run spearheaded by Wilson, who scored five of her 14 points during the stretch - that ran from 11:43 to 7:27 - to take a five-point lead 54-49.
After a Dalembert jumper in the paint with 6:45 left cut the into the Pirates lead, and then a lay-up by Wynne, on the Bulls' next possession, with 5:42 left, Stokes would get USF its lead back, 56-54, on her only field goal of the second half - a three-pointer - with 5:01 left in the game.
Unfortunately, for the Bulls, that would be their last field goal of the game as East Carolina would close the contest on a 9-4 run en route to the victory.
Although USF won the battle of the paint against a bigger ECU team, it still fell victim to the turnover bug with 19 miscues leading to 15 Pirate points.
In addition, East Carolina's bench contributed 30 points as opposed to 19 from the Bulls' reserves.
Wilson paced the way for the Pirates with 14 points while Allison Spivey added 11 points in a winning effort.
The loss was just USF's second in the Shootout in its 16 games in the event. The Bulls' last loss came to Eastern Michigan, 57-49, on Nov. 28, 2004.
USF will now get time off for Christmas break before its next game against St. Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. at the Sun Dome. That will be the Bulls' final non-conference game of the season before opening BIG EAST play on Jan. 4 at defending national champion and current No. 1 ranked Connecticut.
For ticket information contact 1-800-GoBulls.
2009 USF Shootout All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player - Ashley Clark, East Carolina
All-Tournament - Crystal Wilson, East Carolina
All-Tournament - Ariana Jackson, East Carolina
All-Tournament - Sequoyah Griffin, USF
All-Tournament - Melissa Dalembert, USF
All-Tournament - Joanne Miller, North Carolina Central
