By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, JAN. 8, 2019 – Down to just nine healthy players, USF stayed in a close battle with rival UCF for most of the way in a 62-49 War on I-4 loss at the Yuengling Center on Tuesday night.

Trailing by a point at the half, USF (10-6, 1-1 in AAC) cut an eight-point fourth quarter deficit down to two with less than five minutes remaining. UCF (13-2, 2-0) closed the game on a 12-1 run and handed the Bulls their first loss in eight home games at the Yuengling Center this season.

USF was without leading team scorer Laura Ferreira (Lisboa, Portugal) because of an illness but got solid production from Enna Pehadzic. The sophomore guard from Horsens, Denmark posted her second career double-double with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds while tying her career high with four three-pointers.

Freshman Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) was the other Bull in double-digit scoring figures with 12 points. Junior Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) added six points, a career-high five assists and 10 rebounds to help the Bulls finish with a 42-36 advantage on the boards.

Despite being without four key players, USF held a lead for a good portion of the second quarter and headed into halftime down, 29-28, in the back-and-forth battle.

Harvey powered the Bulls early with 10 points and knocked down a buzzer-beating three to trim the UCF lead to 18-15 in the first quarter. The Bulls turned the ball over 13 times in the first half but limited the Knights to just four field goals out of 16 second-quarter attempts.

UCF led by as many as eight in the third quarter and had an eight-point advantage again with about eight minutes left in the fourth. USF responded with eight straight points from Pehadzic to pull within two with 4:38 remaining before the Knights pulled away in their first win over the Bulls since Feb. 14, 2017.

Quotable
Head coach Jose Fernandez's thoughts on the shorthanded Bulls' loss:
"I was really proud of our (team) tonight. With five minutes to go, it was a two-point game and we were at the free throw line. Those final five minutes, we didn't convert and make shots. UCF did a great job of closing the game off. I think the biggest stat of the night was points off of turnovers, it was 29-10. I thought for the most part we did a really good job defending in the half court. We took away stuff in transition and we did a good job on the glass. But I think we got a little bit worn down there too down the stretch in that second half just with our numbers."

Fernandez on the impact of the Bulls missing key players:
"Right now we're playing without our three best players. That's 45-50 points out of the lineup, that's a lot with Laksa, Ferreira and Jordao. But right now a lot of our young kids are getting a lot of experience and five of the nine are freshmen. You continue to move on, continue to prepare and defend, and that's all you can do."

Enna Pehadzic on the team continuing to battle the Knights despite being shorthanded:
"I'm proud of the team with how we kept fighting, fighting and fighting. Offensively, sometimes we didn't knock down shots, but I'm proud of how we defended, played hard and stayed together. I can't wait to see how we continue developing because we have a really, really good team defensively and offensively."

Key Stats
12-1 – UCF closed the game with a 12-1 run after USF cut the Knights' lead to 50-48 with 4:38 remaining.
29-10 – UCF's advantage in points off turnovers.
42 – USF finished with a 42-36 rebounding edge and scored 15 second-chance points.

Notable

• Freshman Luize Septe (Ventspils, Latvia) finished with five points, one block and one steal in her first career start.
• USF has been outrebounded only once this season and headed into Tuesday's game ranking seventh nationally with a plus-12.7 margin on the boards.
• Redshirt senior Laura Ferreira missed the game with an illness and is averaging 15.8 points per game this season.
• USF has had at least two Bulls score in double figures in each game this season.

Up Next
USF hits the road for a conference matchup at No. 3 UConn that's set for a 1 p.m. start Saturday in Storrs, Conn. (TV: ESPN2).

The Bulls return to the Yuengling Center to host Tulane on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 1 p.m. Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
 
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USF notched its sixth consecutive 20-win season and fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017-18. It marked the ninth 20-win season in program history, with head coach Jose Fernandezat the helm for all nine. The Bulls posted 26 wins in 2017-18, just shy of the program record of 27 set in 2008-09 and 2014-15. 
 
USF has made 14 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez's 18 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to nine 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 300 games.