USF Women Struggle To Find Scoring Touch

TAMPA - As poorly as the University of South Florida women played in the second half of its 79-66 loss to Marquette, there actually was something positive from Saturday night.

The Bulls didn't lose any ground in the race to finish among the Big East's top 12 teams, which qualify for the conference tournament. The other four teams grouped with USF at the bottom of the standings also lost Saturday.

USF (11-8, 1-5 Big East) is one of five teams with only one league win. At least one will get a spot in the Big East tourney.

For the Bulls to have any shot of making the league tournament, they're going to have to improve their shooting. The Big East's second-worst shooting team, the Bulls hit only 28.8 percent.

"You can't shoot as poorly as we did. That is a major problem," USF coach Jose Fernandez said. "We got a bunch of uncontested looks. We just miss flat-open shots and again our free-throw shooting - 21 of 32 66 percent - that's also a cause for concern."

USF and Marquette (11-8, 3-3) were tied at halftime. The Bulls took their last lead, 39-37, with 18:08 remaining on Jazmine Sepulveda's 3-pointer.

However, the Golden Eagles went on a 19-4 run during the next six minutes. In that span, Shantia Grace, USF's leading scorer, went to the bench with her fourth foul. Without Grace, the Bulls' offense was downright offensive. USF missed eight of its next nine shots and committed five turnovers.

"They just pulled away. We didn't have an answer," Sepulveda said. "We couldn't make shots and they took advantage of that."

Trailing 56-43, USF used an 8-2 run to cut the margin to 58-51 with 11 minutes left, only to watch Marquette respond with nine consecutive points.

"It was tough not being out there and battling with them and not being able to go back in," said Grace, who played only 26 minutes and fouled out with 6:41 left.

Marquette guard Krystal Ellis was nearly unstoppable in the second half. She made 10 of 15 after halftime, scoring 23 of her game-high 30 points.

Sepulveda (14 points) and Grace (13 points) were the only Bulls in double figures.

"We've been so inconsistent from that third guard position, we had two kids Daiane Packer and Gianna Messina go 1-for-14 between them and that really, really hurts us," Fernandez said. "Shantia getting in foul trouble didn't help, either. We committed 24 turnovers and you can't do that in Big East play."

After a 10-2 start, the Bulls have lost five of their last six. USF plays at top-ranked Connecticut on Wednesday night.

"It doesn't get any easier when you go on the road against the No. 1 team in the country," Fernandez said.