Bulls Take Down Temple, Extend Win Streak to 3
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA (Jan. 7, 2014) – The Bulls protected their house well and extended their winning streak to three with a 64-51 victory over Temple before a crowd of 1,358 at the Sun Dome on Tuesday night.
"It's a good win. I'm glad we were able to protect our home floor," head coach
Jose Fernandez said. "That's something that's very important and something that you have to do in league play."
USF (8-7, 3-1) got a huge performance from
Alisia Jenkins, who scored a career-high 18 points and added 12 rebounds. The sophomore forward has two double-doubles in her past three games and seven this season.
Senior
Inga Orekhova extended her double-figure scoring streak to three games with 10 points.
Shavontae Naylor finished with nine points and
Tamara Taylor added eight points to help the Bulls dominate the Owls in bench points by a 25-3 margin.
"Now we're getting a lot of players to give us stuff when they come in and we weren't getting that early on," Fernandez said.
Temple (8-6, 2-2) headed into the matchup with the conference lead in 3-point percent but went 3-for-12 from beyond the arc against the Bulls. Jenkins' busy night on the boards also helped USF finish with a 47-36 edge in rebounds and a 16-5 advantage in second-chance points.
"Temple is a very good 3-point shooting team," Fernandez said. "We had to be there on the catch, our hands had to be active and we needed to impose our will in the paint with second and third opportunities. I think we did that."
USF shook off 10 turnovers and built a 36-28 lead by the break with starters and reserves both stepping up in the first meeting between the programs.
The first half featured four lead changes before the Bulls started to hit their stride at the midpoint. An acrobat go-ahead layup by
Naylor gave USF an 11-10 lead and the Bulls continued on an 11-2 run while the Owls went nearly 5 minutes without a field goal.
Orekhova headed into the break with a team-high seven points, while
Naylor and Taylor each had six points apiece. Jenkins registered seven rebounds to help the Bulls start with a 22-17 edge on the glass. Jenkins has posted at least seven rebounds in a half 12 times this season.
"For her size she's just so active and she has a great motor," Fernandez said. "She's long, athletic and she runs the floor."
Temple started to catch up at the start of the second half with a 9-1 run and a 3-pointer by
Tyonna Williams cut the deficit to 40-37 with 15:44 remaining. The Bulls responded with a 13-3 run that pumped their lead up to 53-40 with 7:12 to go and the Owls never got within nine the rest of the way.
Temple was led by freshman guard
Feyonda Fitzgerald's 17 points and senior forward Natasha Thomas collected her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bulls will look to build more momentum 3 p.m. Sunday when they host No. 5 Louisville at the Sun Dome. Purchase tickets
HERE and stay updated on the Bulls by following the team on Twitter @
USFWBB.
"We're going to play one of the better teams in the country and it's a great opportunity for our kids," Fernandez said. "They're not going to take us lightly."
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