TAMPA, FEB. 9, 2016 – The No. 22/20 University of South Florida women's basketball team added another series sweep this season by cruising past Tulane 77-65 at the Sun Dome Arena Tuesday night.
USF (17-6, 10-3 AAC) finished with four players in double figures led by The American Conference scoring leader Courtney Williams' (Folkston, Ga.) 18 points, in its fourth series sweep of the season. Three-time American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week, Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia) added 14 points while Shalethia Stringfield (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Maria Jespersen (Arhus, Denmark) followed with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Alisia Jenkins (Statesboro, Ga.) made a triumphant return to the starting line-up, grabbing 20 rebounds in 36 minutes of action, just one rebound shy of tying her career high, en route to the Bulls 42-30 dominance on the boards. Jenkins added eight points, two assists and one steal.
Laksa led the Bulls in the first two quarters with 11 points as the Bulls shot 48 percent from the field (15-of-31). USF slammed the door on a Tulane comeback attempted in the fourth quarter, quashing an 8-0 run. Williams collected an old fashioned three-point play and reached the 16-point mark by extending the Bulls lead back to double-digits with 5:52 remaining and the Bulls kept rolling with several line-ups on the court.
Tulane (16-8, 7-5 AAC) became the 14th opponent to shoot less than 30 percent from behind the arc this season. The Green Wave went 5-for-20 from the field (25 percent) and committed 21 fouls. USF converted 18-of-22 attempts from the charity stripe.
USF has completed season series sweeps against East Carolina, UCF, SMU, and Tulane. The Bulls look for another sweep Friday at 7 p.m., when they head to Cincinnati in the first of a two game road swing. The game will air on the American Digital Sports Network. The Bulls continue its swing at No. 12 Louisville Feb. 15 on Big Monday on ESPN2.
The Bulls continue to climb in the polls, and have reached their highest rankings in program history. USF has been ranked as highly as No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll this season; both are the highest rankings in program history. USF has appeared in both polls every week and placed as highly as No. 11 on some ballots.
USF has made 11 postseason tournament appearances and had three NCAA Tournament berths in Head Coach Jose Fernandez's 15 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to six 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 260 games.
– #GoBulls –
