Sunday, January 30
South Florida (RV) 55, Houston 35
The University of South Florida women's basketball team overcame a sluggish first quarter to eventually dominate Houston, 55-35, on Sunday at the Fertitta Center for its fourth straight win.
The win improves the Bulls to 16-5 on the year and 6-1 in the American Athletic Conference, and they retain a share of first place in the league standings with rival Central Florida. The Cougars fall to 9-11 overall and 2-6 in The American.
Elena Tsineke, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu and Maria Alvarez all scored a game-high 11 points in the win, while Bethy Mununga added eight points and 18 rebounds.
Elisa Pinzan had six points and six assists leaving her five assists shy of 500 for her career which will make her only the third player in program history to reach the 500-assist plateau.
Both teams battled through a dismal first quarter offensively that saw the Bulls hold a slight advantage after 10 minutes, 9-7 before South Florida took a 23-16 lead into the intermission.
The Bulls came out after the break and took control of the contest behind a 15-2 run that was capped off by back-to-back layups from Tsineke to give South Florida a 42-20 lead with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
The Green and Gold extended its lead to a game-high 26 points, 48-22, again, on a driving layup by Tsineke, and never looked back en route to the win.
Once again, South Florida dominated the paint, outscoring the Cougars 32-16 in the lane.
The Bulls shot 36.8 percent (21-for-57) from the field on the afternoon and 71.4 percent (10-for-14) from the free-throw line, while holding Houston to just 23.7 percent (14-for-59) from the floor and 13.3 percent (2-for-15) from behind the arc.