Bulls remain unbeaten with 48-point victory
South Florida’s two-guard tandem was at it again.
Seniors Jazmine Sepulveda and Shantia Grace — USF’s returning leading scorers from last season — led the USF women’s basketball team to a 103-55 thumping of the Stetson Hatters on Tuesday night at the Sun Dome.
“Offensively, we’re playing with good tempo,” USF coach Jose Fernandez said. “We’re playing so well just because of our depth on the perimeter.”
The 100-point total marks the third time in the program’s history that USF scored at least 100 points more than once in a season. USF defeated Central Connecticut State 100-48 in the season’s opening game.
Sepulveda scored 24 points — two shy of her career high — while Grace scored 19 points Tuesday night.
“I worked a lot in the offseason to come in and work on my shot because I knew that was something I wanted to get better with,” Sepulveda said.
Despite being named preseason first team All-Big East, Grace scored only eight and 10 points in the previous two games.
“I was disappointed, in the first couple games, with my shot,” Grace said. “My teammates and my coaches backed me up, and told me to keep my head up and keep shooting.”
USF held a slim 14-11 lead with 12:00 remaining in the first half, but went on a 17-4 run in four minutes, and finished the half leading 54-33.
The Bulls have scored 50 points during the first half in each of the first three games this season. They didn’t accomplish that feat once last year. Fernandez attributes this to the way the team plays together.
“We are playing unselfish basketball,” he said. “That’s very pleasing to see.”
Fernandez also said it is nice to see his starting guards playing at a high level.
“(Grace) is going to graduate scoring 2,000 points,” he said. “It was good to see both of the seniors shoot the ball well tonight. Then you look at Sepulveda, and she hasn’t turned the ball over in all three of our games.”
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