Bulls own Bearcats on road
After a 27-point blowout win against Temple on Sunday, USF rode that momentum into Cincinnati, Ohio, to take on the Bearcats. After only being tied for several possessions at the start of the contest, the Bulls crushed Cincinnati 74-44.
Junior forward Alisia Jenkins stole the show Tuesday, collecting a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds by halftime and finishing with 16 points and 17 rebounds in 32 minutes of play.
The Bulls (23-5, 14-2) out-rebounded the Bearcats 48-26, and showed resilience in the paint. Even with its dominance, USF could not quite run away with the game by halftime, leading by only 13 points. Unfortunately for Cincinnati (6-21, 3-13), this would be the closest they would get to matching the Bulls’ effort for the remainder of the game.
USF scored 37 points in both halves and closed out the game shooting lights out, converting 47 percent of shot attempts.
The Bearcats’ offense struggled to find decent offensive looks and began settling on poor shot attempts early on. The poor shooting effort translated into just 31 shooting from the field, with just four 3-pointers falling on the night.
Junior guard Courtney Williams stepped up her game once again, coming away with 22 points and six rebounds off 10-for-21 shots made. The Bulls forced Cincinnati to commit 18 turnovers, with the majority coming in the second half, helping USF get better shot attempts as the minutes wound down.
USF outsized and outplayed the Bearcats and is now turning its sights toward the last regular season road game against UCF (9-18, 5-11) before returning home for a rematch with AAC rival, and current conference leader, UConn (27-1, 16-0).
The Bulls’ next game is Saturday against in-state foe UCF at CFE Arena in Orlando at 4 p.m