CHICAGO (AP) - The University of South Florida women's basketball team put up 61 points, but it was not enough as the Bulls fell to No. 21 DePaul 77-61 on Tuesday night.

Four players scored in double figures as No. 14 DePaul moved into a Big East first place tie with a 77-61 victory over South Florida on Tuesday.

The victory was the 13th in 14 games for the Blue Demons (16-2, 4-0) who now share the conference lead with idle Connecticut. 

Felicia Chester had a game-high 19 points while Keisha Hampton added 18. Andrea Smith collected 16 points for South Florida (9-9, 0-4) losers of five straight.

The Blue Demons led by just two points with 14:30 to play but quickly bounced back to open a double-digit lead four minutes later.

DePaul led 37-29 at halftime as Taylor Pikes hit a pair of 3 pointers and scored 10 first half points.

South Florida led twice in the opening four minutes, but back-to-back 3 pointers by Anna Martin and Pikes opened a 14-10 advantage and Blue Demons never trailed again. 

Smith led the Bulls with 7 in the first half.

Despite a slight size advantage, DePaul was outrebounded 23-21 in the first half. The Blue Demons, however had better shooting as they went 15 of 33 (45.5 percent) to 12 of 35 (34.3 percent) for South Florida.

Momentum abruptly shifted in the second half as the Bulls cut the lead to three at 39-36 in the first two minutes as Smith had five points and Akila McDonald added a fast break layup. At the 15:38 mark, a Leondra Doomes-Stephens 3 pointer sliced the lead to 43-41.

But South Florida got no closer. DePaul used an 11-3 run over the next 4:47 to open a 56-46 advantage and the lead never fell below eight points the rest of the way.

Pikes added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the winners while Martin had 14.  Doomes-Stephens added 14 for the Bulls.

The Blue Demons eventually out rebounded South Florida 45-43.

USF returns home to the Sun Dome on Sunday, Jan. 16 when it faces Marquette at 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.