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TAMPA, NOV. 22, 2014 – All 12 healthy Bulls saw court time Saturday afternoon as the USF women's basketball team cruised through its home opener in a 97-53 win over UNC-Asheville.

Senior guard Tamara Taylor dropped a season-high 14 points as USF shot 54 percent from the field, holding the Bulldogs to just 32.8 percent and forcing 21 turnovers for the Bulls' third win of the season.

“There are things that we can fix, but I like our team's versatility,” head coach Jose Fernandez said. “Maria (Jespersen) had a good game playing at the four-spot, and there were some very good things I think our point guards did for us.”

USF got out to a quick start, turning the Bulldogs over five times in the first five minutes to jump out to a 13-4 lead. Taylor posted a big first half, knocking down a pair of three's to lead USF on a 14-0 run, and scoring a team-high 14 points in the half. The Bulls averaged just 12 seconds per possession in the half, scoring on 60 percent of those possessions and leading by as much as 29 to head into the locker room with a comfortable 49-22 advantage.

The Bulls continued a balanced scoring attack in the second half, getting at least five points from six different players, including 11 second-half points from junior Shavontae Naylor and seven from junior Courtney Williams. Williams ended the game with a team-high 18 points, as one of six different Bulls scoring at least 11 in the win.

Recording a season-best 20 assists as a team, USF got seven points and seven assists from freshman Laia Flores off the bench, and another four assists from freshman Laura Ferreira. The Bulls' third freshman, Maria Jespersen started and tallied a career-high 12 points to go along with five rebounds in the post.

“The big thing we wanted to take away from this game was doing a better job of sharing the ball on the offensive end, and we did that today.” Fernandez said.

Alisia Jenkins continued to be a double-double machine, contributing 13 points and 11 rebounds along with four blocks for her third double-double of the season. The junior recorded 14 last season. The Bulls led by as much as 46 points, shooting 59 percent in the second half.

USF played without five scholarship athletes due to injury, including starters Katelyn Weber (toe) and Laura Marcos Canedo (foot), as well as junior point guard Bre Brooks, who suffered a knee injury in practice Friday. Backup center Ivana Vuletic and guard Trimaine McCullough did not dress for the fourth consecutive game.

USF travels to the Virgin Islands Tuesday, in preparation for the Paradise Jam over Thanksgiving Weekend. The Bulls will face RV/RV Oklahoma on Thanksgiving evening, Illinois Friday and No. 9/13 Kentucky Saturday. All games will start at 8:15 p.m., with free audio broadcasts streamed on GoUSFBulls.com.