Wild finish comes up short vs. W.Va.
TAMPA -- With 11 minutes to play, USF was within a point of No. 17 West Virginia and within easy reach of its first quality win of the season.
The Mountaineers scored on their next seven possessions for a 15-2 run that put the game out of reach. USF pulled within three in the final minute, but West Virginia hit enough free throws to pull out a 79-73 win before a season-high 1,224 at the Sun Dome.
"A three-minute stretch there in the game totally killed us," coach Jose Fernandez said. "We clawed back there at the end ... our kids have to learn they can't decide when to play and when not to play, and at times, that's what happened."
Junior guard Shantia Grace led USF with 25 points, but did so on 6-for-18 shooting, while centers Brittany Denson and Jessica Lawson couldn't contain West Virginia's Olayinka Sanni, who had 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting. West Virginia hit 11 3-pointers, matching a season high.
"We just made a few mental mistakes," Grace said. "We all broke down, and defensively, we didn't play that hard and they capitalized on our mistakes."
USF plays at St. John's on Tuesday before returning home for Syracuse on Saturday.
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
For a minute I thought this was a mens game. Could you please put that somewhere in the title so I know if I need to read it or not.
Posted by: Stephen | January 06, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Thats not bad attendance wise for the girls
Posted by: Paul Wall | January 06, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I attended last night's game. I happen to be a sports fan in general. The girls worked hard and hung in with WVU. WVU was physically much bigger and the depth was obvious. The point guard for WVU spent most of the night on the bench due to foul trouble. They didn't appear to miss a beat. USF needs to recruit post players who can physically match up with their opponents. Saw the same comment posted on the USF men's Syracuse game. Attendance was not bad, but I hope it will improve as students return from their break. The girls play hard and deserve their share of the support.
Posted by: PR Fan | January 06, 2008 at 11:29 AM
People act like 6-11 240lb post guys are just lining up to come to USF and we aren't recruiting them.
I am surprised that we were able to pull the talent that we pulled with Mac.
We have one of the top scoring freshman in the conference.
Landing high quality big men is really really hard. They happen to be in high demand -- in case you didn't know.
Posted by: Ari Hinkelberger | January 06, 2008 at 01:21 PM
There is a touch of sarcasm in your remark, Ari. Obviously, my comment was misunderstood. I was not criticizing either program, and I am fully aware that post players are in demand. I was just trying to point out that both the women's and men's programs have the same needs.
This was my first post after lurking for a several months. Now I know why more people don't.
Posted by: PR Fan | January 06, 2008 at 02:05 PM
No harm pointed toward you. I just think our b-ball program looks the best it has looked in a long long time.
Need a string of big wins and then maybe a few high level recruits might listen.
Posted by: Ari Hinkelberger | January 06, 2008 at 02:44 PM
Everybody needs to be a little bit kinder with the comments. PR, glad to have you posting. Hard to post here without finding someone to disagree with you; that's not always a bad thing. The hard thing about posts is that you get zero inflection, so it's hard to tell if somebody's angry or mocking sometimes.
Posted by: G.A. | January 06, 2008 at 03:11 PM
"For a minute I thought this was a mens game. Could you please put that somewhere in the title so I know if I need to read it or not.
Posted by: Stephen"
If you followed USF Bulls Basketball you would know it was a women's game by the opponent.
Al - USF Fan
Posted by: Al | January 06, 2008 at 06:11 PM
This article is about WOMEN's Basketball, why turn it into a discussion about men's BB?
The crowd was much better than it was for the Yale game (12-30). There were only 2 students in the student section for that game. The Pep Band, Twirler and Rocky were missing too, because they were out in El Paso eating Tacos.
Al - Bulls Fan - Women's Basketball Season ticket holder - Go Bulls
Posted by: Al | January 06, 2008 at 06:21 PM
The women deserve good press too, and I'm pleased to see Greg's best efforts here, even though I don't follow them nearly as much as the men.
The men played Saturday in Syracuse and next in Tampa Wednesday night against Pitt at 7:30. Should be a tough game--a great win if we can get it--let's have a great turnout. See you there!
Posted by: Ken | January 06, 2008 at 08:01 PM
Nobody cares about womens sports.
Posted by: steve | January 07, 2008 at 06:44 PM