Stokes' Five Threes Squeeze Bulls Past Orange, 88-79

Sunday, February 8

Syracuse, N.Y.

4:00 PM

University of South Florida

at Syracuse

Stokes' Five Threes Squeeze Bulls Past Orange, 88-79

February 08, 2009 | Women's Basketball

By: USF

Final Stats: PDF | HTML | 2008-09 Season Stats | BIG EAST Stats

	1	2	F
USF	38	50	88
Syracuse	38	41	79

Stat Comparison	USF	SU
Points	88	79
FG Made-Attempted	31-68	23-67
FG Percentage	45.6%	34.3%
3 FG Made-Attempted	8-24	8-22
3 FG Percentage	33.3%	36.4%
FT Made-Attempted	18-27	25-34
FT Percentage	66.7%	73.5%
Rebounds	35	45
Assists/Turnovers	23	13

USF Stat Leaders			SU Stat Leaders
Stokes	22	Points	Michael	27
Two Players	7	Rebounds	Michael	13
Grace	8	Assists	Harris	8
Denson	1	Steals		7
Lawson	2	Blocks	Michael	1

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (February 8, 2009) ? The University of South Florida women's basketball team headed to Central New York this weekend to take on Syracuse in a key BIG EAST Conference match-up Sunday afternoon at the Carrier Dome in front of a national television audience on ESPNU. The game pitted two teams that had struggled of late after getting out of the gate quickly at the beginning of the year.

USF, who was playing its fourth road game in its last six outings, took advantage of the opportunity to move up in the BIG EAST standings with an 88-79 win over the Orange. The victory improved the Bulls' record to 17-7 and 4-6 in league play while Syracuse is 17-7 and 4-6 in the conference.

Janae Stokes led the Bulls with 22 points while Jessica Lawson added 16 points in the win.

The Bulls jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead just over three minutes into the contest on back-to-back field goals by Jessica Lawson and a three-point play by Brittany Denson.

USF would continue to control the game pushing its lead to as many 11, twice, first on a three-pointer by Shantia Grace with 7:18 left in the half to make the score, 29-18, and then again at 6:32 on a trey by Janae Stokes with 6:32 left in the first stanza.

Syracuse, however would get back into the game closing the last six minutes of the half on a 20-9 run to tie the game at the intermission, marking the first time this year that the Green and Gold have entered the locker room deadlocked at the intermission.

The Orange had the opportunity to take the lead at the break; however, Erica Morrow hit just one of two free throws with 1.3 seconds left on the clock.

The Bulls came out in the second half scoring the first eight points of the game, and like the beginning of the first half, the second 20 minutes was spearheaded by the post players. Denson took a pass and connected on transition while Lawson scored the next two baskets, the first of which came off a Grace assist. Jazmine Sepulveda would cap the eight-point stretch hitting two free throws with 17:12 on the clock to make the score 46-38.

Syracuse would make another push to take its first lead of the game, 49-48, on a field goal with 12:56 left in the game.

The lead, however, was short-lived as Lawson gave USF its edge back, 51-48, hitting a lay-up and getting fouled just 25 seconds later. She would miss the free throw.

The Orange would tie the game twice between the 11:30 and 10:29 mark, however could not take the lead the rest of the game.

In addition to Stokes and Lawson hitting double figures in the win, USF also placed three other players in double-digits. Denson netted 14 points while Grace and Sepulveda each recorded 13 points.

Michael poured in 27 points while Chandrea Jones had 21 points in a losing effort.

The Bulls will get a week off, before their next game, to prepare for Seton Hall on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Sun Dome.