Women lose to Marquette

South Florida failed to capitalize on its momentum from Saturday’s upset victory over Rutgers.

The Bulls came out sluggish and fell 71-56 to Marquette on Tuesday night at the Sun Dome.

It’s second time the Bulls have lost to Marquette this season.

Coach Fernandez attributed the loss to his team’s effort on the floor. The Bulls turned the ball over 20 times.

“When you have to coach effort, that’s a huge problem,” he said.

The Bulls played tight with the Golden Eagles in the first half, but fell victim to a 12-5 Marquette run and trailed 33-26 at halftime.

“Overall, the word I can use for this game is effort,” said USF junior guard Janae Stokes. “They had more than we did. They didn’t do anything offensively or defensively that we couldn’t match. All the loose balls, all extra hustle plays, they won.”

Stokes went 3-for-10 from the field and scored nine points. She said the loss to Marquette has had a major effect on her emotions.

“It’s just frustrating,” she said. “We win a big game on the road, then come home and lose worse than (we) did when (we) played them at their place.”

USF lost 68-60 to Marquette in their Big East opener Jan. 3.

Shantia Grace led USF with 13 points.

“Before the game, we had no energy,” Grace said. “We just weren’t together coming into the game, and it carried over into the game.”

The Golden Eagles shot 37 percent from the field.

Fernandez said he won’t blame anyone in particular for the loss.

“It falls on all of us,” he said. “It falls on our players, it falls on our staff and it falls on me.”