By Charlie Terenzio
USF Communications
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Bulls were down, but not out Saturday night in a comeback effort against Air Force.
After falling behind early for the second straight game, the Bulls battled their way back late against Air Force to take the finale of the Air Force Classic, 73-70, behind a team-high 18 points from Jasmine Wynne.
“It was good to see some fight and resolve from our team tonight,” head coach Jose Fernandez said.
USF trailed by as many as 13 with 15:10 to play in the second half, but were able to outscore the host Falcons 39-30 in the second half to avoid back-to-back losses.
Each team got into foul trouble early with a total of 51 total fouls called in the game.
Wynne scored in double-figures for the sixth straight game and Andrell Smith scored 12 for USF, but fouled out midway through the second half, one of five players in the game to be disqualified because of fouls.
“We committed too many fouls on back-to-back nights,” Fernandez said.
The Bulls fell behind 12-2 early, a night after opening the game down 17-0 to Idaho State, but were able to claw right back to take a 22-20 lead with 7:17 left in the first half.
The Falcons then went on a run and took a 40-34 lead into the locker room at the break.
It did not look good the begin the second half as Air Force extended its lead to 13 with 15:50 to go in the game, but that is when Wynne and the Bulls took over.
“We were really able to fight and battle our way back in this game,” Fernandez said.
USF went into a full-court press and was able to limit the touches by Alicia Leipprandt who had 23 points at the half and finished with a career high 32 points. The Bulls defense forced 36 Air Force turnovers and eventually regained the lead, 63-62 with 5:01 to go.
The Bulls extended their lead to six with 25 seconds to play, but Leipprandt hit a three with 6 seconds left and forced a USF turnover on the ensuing out of bounds play, but their last second shot missed wide giving the Bulls the 73-70 win.
“We as a staff, and as a team, need to get back into the gym and into the film room to improve as a team,” Fernandez said.
USF will now have a prolonged break until they travel to Alabama to face Auburn on Dec. 14.
