TAMPA - The University of South Florida women's basketball team picked up their first BIG EAST victory of the 2009-10 season as they defeated No. 25 Syracuse 73-64 Saturday afternoon at the Sun Dome.

The Bulls (10-7, 1-3 BIG EAST) got a big outing out of senior guard Janae Stokes, who connected on four three pointers on nine attempts en route to her 20 points against the Orange. Stokes also collected seven rebounds, including three boards on the offensive end.

Jasmine Wynne helped lead the Bulls' offense accounting for 15 points, on 5-20 shooting from the field, while also dishing out nine assists.

Senior center Jessica Lawson turned it on in the second half, scoring 12 of her 16 points in the final stanza after having just four in the opening half. She finished with her eighth double-double of the season as also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds on the night.

The Bulls got off to a hot start on the offensive end of the floor connecting on three of their first four shots from beyond the arc. Stokes, Leondra Doomes-Stephens, who finished with 10 points, and Sequoyah Griffin, who added nine points, all hit treys to help put the Bulls up 13-5 early on in the contest.

Syracuse (15-2, 2-2 BIG EAST) would answer back, by going on a 6-0 run to cut the Bulls lead to 13-11 when the Orange's Nicole Michael hit two free throws with 14:47 left in the first half.

After a pair of offensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions led to jumpers by Stokes and Wynne, the Bulls extended their lead to 17-11 with 11:25 remaining in the opening half.

The Orange then went on a 10-4 run to eventually tie the game at 21-all on 13-footer by Michael in 5:01 left on the clock.

USF would close out the half on an 11-7 run to take a 32-28 lead into the intermission.

The Bulls came out on fire in the second half, as they opened on a 5-0 run to go up by nine, 37-28, their largest lead of the game to that point.

USF focused on working the ball inside the paint early in the second half, and Lawson connected on two and hit two free throws to put the Bulls up 43-35 with 16:17 remaining in the game.

After a steal by Wynne, and three crisp passes on the fast-break, USF got a three-point play on a bucket and a foul from Wynne to take a 46-40 lead with 13:12 left.

Wynne would continue to hurt the Orange coming back after her conventional three-point play hitting to hit back-to-back treys on consecutive possessions with 10:41 left and 10:06 left in the game to give the Bulls a 10-point lead, 58-48.

After a timeout, the Bulls got a designed play to Lawson underneath for two, and got an open three for Stokes, her fourth of the night, with 8:30 left to make the score 57-48.

Syracuse would cut the lead to three points twice in the final eight minutes but could not get any closer. In addition to Stokes, Lawson and Wynne's double-figure efforts, Doomes-Stephens also added 10 points.

USF will return to action on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. when it faces Pittsburgh closing out its short two-game homestand.

USF Quotes
Jessica Lawson
On how it felt to get that first Big East win.
"It was definitely good. We were kind of a little low, a little low; just because we started off in the conference with those three loses. The losses can kind of get into your head. But this win is kind of like a little cushion, we still have a lot of things to get better on. We still have a lot of work to do. But it feels a little good to have at least one win under your belt."

Jose Fernandez, USF Head Coach
"Well this is the fourth straight top 25 opponent we've faced to open up Big East play. We knew what we were going to get into tonight. We knew we had to make shots and we needed to rebound. And we did both those things; especially playing without Melissa (Dalembert). We made shots against the zone and that's what we needed to do. With us not being such a great rebounding team that helped us out tremendously."

Syracuse Quotes
Syracuse Head Coach Quentin Hillsman
On the game.
"Overall I think that our kids played hard and they competed.  I give a lot of credit to South Florida for what they did, they made shots.  They made ten threes and they were shooting at a high percentage and it was tough to combat those kinds of efforts from the perimeter.  I thought that overall it was tough to lose a game and it is tough to play on the road in the BIG EAST.  We have to come on the road and shoot at a better percentage and I thought that was the game.  They shot at a better percentage behind three and that's the ball game, and then we got out rebounded and had 19 turnovers." 

On USF as a team.
"They are a very good team.  People start to get consumed in other people's records; I don't get consumed in that.  This is the BIG EAST and every player is a good basketball player in this conference.  We came here knowing that if we didn't come here and do what we had to do that on the perimeter and if we didn't get out and close out on the shooters and guard the bounce that we would have a problem, and we did.  They played a great game, I have to give them a lot of credit for their effort and for the way they came out and really attacked us off of the bounce and also with the three point shot."