No. 25 Bulls Overpower SMU in 6th Straight Win

Women's Basketball USF

No. 25 Bulls Overpower SMU in 6th Straight Win

Team 1st 2nd  OT Final
SMU 22 29 -   51
No. 25/25 USF 37 35 - 72

 

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By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

DALLAS, FEB. 10, 2015 – No. 25 USF is ranked in both polls for the first time and the Bulls continue to roll toward the postseason.

Head coach Jose Fernandez's squad became the fastest team in USF history to reach 20 wins with a 72-51 rout of SMU at Moody Coliseum on Tuesday night. USF (20-4, 11-1) has won six straight and 14 of its past 15 games.

“What I was pleased with the most about is we shared the ball,” Fernandez said. “We got to play a lot of kids for a lot of minutes today, too.”

Courtney Williams led four Bulls in double figures with game-high 21 points and added nine rebounds in 25 minutes. The junior guard from Folkston, Ga., has scored at least 20 points in nine consecutive games, the longest current streak in Division I women's basketball.

Shavontae Naylor tied her career high with 11 points and Shalethia Stringfield added 10 points and five assists off the bench. Alisia Jenkins extended her double-digit scoring streak to six games with 10 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes.

Tamara Taylor added seven points and five rebounds and USF got even more production from Maria Jespersen, who registered six points and six rebounds. The bench accounted for 39 points and 15 different Bulls saw action for the third consecutive game.  

“I thought we got the ball in the right places. We did a good job of moving the ball and making the extra pass,” Fernandez said.

USF handed SMU an 82-59 loss at the Sun Dome on Jan. 14 and got off to another fast start in Dallas.

Williams heated up quickly with 14 points as USF headed into the break with a 37-22 advantage. Jenkins played just 11 minutes because of foul trouble but still had five points and three rebounds. Stringfield was up to eight points after beating the buzzer with a jumper and Naylor gave the Bulls good minutes off the bench with six points.

SMU started just 1-for-9 from long range but knocked down three 3-pointers in the final 3 minutes of the first half. Despite the hot stretch, USF's defense limited the Mustangs to 26 percent shooting from the field (8-for-30) and forced nine turnovers in the opening period.

Jespersen knocked down one of USF's eight 3-pointers to pump the lead up to 65-31 with 9:50 remaining and the Bulls wound up with nine different scorers on the stat sheet.  Spanning back to the 2013-14 season, USF is 27-0 when scoring more than 70 points.

The Bulls go for their second season series sweep of the week 2 p.m. Sunday at East Carolina (TV: ESPNU). USF opened conference play with a 69-62 win over the Pirates at the Sun Dome on Dec. 28. The Bulls are back at the Sun Dome on Wednesday, Feb. 18 to take on Tulsa at 7 p.m. and fans can purchase tickets HERE

 

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Players Mentioned

Shalethia Stringfield

#23 Shalethia Stringfield

G
5' 6"
Freshman
Alisia Jenkins

#24 Alisia Jenkins

F
6' 1"
Freshman
Shavontae Naylor

#15 Shavontae Naylor

G
5' 9"
Freshman
Courtney Williams

#10 Courtney Williams

G
5' 8"
Freshman
Tamara Taylor

#3 Tamara Taylor

G
5' 10"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Shalethia Stringfield

#23 Shalethia Stringfield

5' 6"
Freshman
G
Alisia Jenkins

#24 Alisia Jenkins

6' 1"
Freshman
F
Shavontae Naylor

#15 Shavontae Naylor

5' 9"
Freshman
G
Courtney Williams

#10 Courtney Williams

5' 8"
Freshman
G
Tamara Taylor

#3 Tamara Taylor

5' 10"
Junior
G