Bulls Roll Past Stetson in Second Round of WNIT
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, MARCH 23, 2014 – USF women's basketball advanced to the third round of the WNIT with authority by rolling past Stetson, 75-56, before a crowd of 784 at the Sun Dome on Sunday afternoon.
USF (21-12) hit the accelerator after the break by opening the second half on a 20-2 run on the way to securing another home game in the tournament. The Bulls will host George Washington 7 p.m. Thursday back at the Sun Dome after setting a new postseason program record by shooting 51.7 percent from the field against the Hatters (27-7).
"We're just trying to show the (NCAA selection) committee we should have been one of those teams that were on the bubble that should have made it in," senior
Akila McDonald said. "So we're just going to take it out on every opponent pretty much. They're going to get the wrath."
McDonald definitely did her part against Stetson, scoring a career-high 21 points while going 10-for-11 from the field. Fellow senior
Inga Orekhova came to play as well with a game-high 22 points after tying her single-game career high with six 3-pointers.
Orekhova now has 1,033 career points and moved into 16
th place on USF's all-time scoring list.
Courtney Williams continued her stellar season by recording her ninth double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and sophomore guard from
Folkston, Ga., dished out a career-high seven assists. Freshman
Ariadna Pujol became the fourth Bull in double figures and finished with 12 points.
The Bulls as a whole put together one of their strongest team games of the season, posting 25 assists on 31 field goals and dominating in the paint by a 42-28 margin.
"That's really big for almost every shot to have been assisted. I think that was the biggest key," said McDonald, who added eight rebounds and two of USF's seven blocks.
Head coach
Jose Fernandez said the Bulls would have to play much better than they did in a six-point, first-round win over North Carolina A&T to get past Stetson and USF brought the intensity from the opening whistle.
USF started on a 6-0 run and did some damage from long range once Stetson tied things up at 10. Orekhova hit back-to-back 3-pointers and McDonald added a layup off a no-look pass from
Shalethia Stringfield to spot the Bulls an 18-10 lead. The up-tempo attack continued while USF went 14-for-26 from the field in the opening half.
The Bulls headed into the break with a 37-28 advantage after
Orekhova connected on two more 3-pointers. The senior helped USF go 5-for-11 from long range and added six rebounds as the Bulls dominated the glass by a 25-10 margin.
Orekhova got into double-digit scoring figures for the 17
th time this season with 16 first-half points and Williams and McDonald added six points apiece. Williams also dished out six assists to help the Bulls set the tone in their second victory over Stetson this season. Minus
Orekhova, USF found a way to hold off the Hatters, 72-68, on Dec. 8 at the Sun Dome.
"We're a different team than we were in December, we just are," Fernandez said. "We've fixed a lot of the issues we had then. We've continued to get better every practice, every
shootaround and every game."
The Bulls made sure Sunday's win wasn't as close by opening the second half on an 11-2 run. McDonald scored nine points during the stretch and converted her seventh field goal in seven attempts to pump the lead up to 48-30 with 16:43 remaining.
"My teammates really got me into it. Honestly I was just trying to catch everything they threw," McDonald said.
Stetson didn't have any answers on the offensive end while USF kept their run going with two 3-pointers from
Orekhova and a three-point play by
Pujol that extended the lead to 57-30 with 12:39 remaining. Stetson went scoreless for nearly 8 minutes during USF's hot stretch.
The blowout victory allowed the Bulls to get the whole roster involved as 14 players saw game action and nine scored at least two points in the team's seventh victory in its past eight games.
"The only way that you can prove that you should be in (the NCAA) tournament is by winning this one," Fernandez said.
Watch the Bulls attempt to take another step towards their second WNIT championship by purchasing tickets to Thursday's game
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