UNCASVILLE, Conn. – It was a battle between the league’s Sunshine State schools in the first 2018 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Semifinal game, as No. 2 seed USF will head to its fourth-straight conference championship after a 74-59 win over No. 3 seed UCF at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Bulls await the winner of The American’s second Semifinals match-up between No. 1 seed UConn and No. 4 seed Cincinnati. The title game will be played at 5:00 p.m. ET and broadcast live on ESPN2.


 
Four USF starters reached double-figure scoring, as the Bulls defeated UCF for third time this year. Kitija Laska hit four 3-pointers and led the team with 20 points. Laura Ferreira added 17 points for the Bulls. Zakiya Saunders led UCF with 20 points and seven rebounds.
 
UCF used a 6-0 run to briefly pull ahead, but both teams shot 47 percent from the field to start, as the opening quarter ended in a 16-16 tie. The Knights held a narrow lead for more than half of the first frame, but the Bulls battled back to knot it up at the first intermission.
 
A 13-4 USF run through the first five minutes of the second quarter gave the Bulls a 29-20 lead and forced a UCF timeout with 4:37 left before the break. However, USF was held to just two more baskets for the remainder of the half, as a jumper by UCF senior Aliyah Gregory with 30 seconds left closed the gap to three points at halftime (33-30). Each team shot 48 percent from the floor in the first half, with UCF’s top scorer Laska and USF top scorer, Saunders collecting 10 points each.
 
The Bulls hit three consecutive 3-pointers to begin the second half with a 9-0 run to expand out to a 42-30 lead at the 7:30 mark. USF led by as much as 14 points, but UCF got within single digits with a 5-0 run to end the third quarter at 49-40.
 
Ferreira hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Bulls’ lead to 17 points at the 4:52 mark of the fourth quarter. USF outscored UCF by a 25-19 margin in the fourth quarter to earn its 2018 championship berth at the final buzzer.