South Florida 54, East Carolina 40
Redshirt junior forward Romi Levy collared 21 points in South Florida women's basketball (12-9, 4-4), 54-40, win against East Carolina (11-8, 4-4) on Sunday afternoon at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Fla. The triumph marked the Bull's 750th all-time win in program history.
Freshman guard Vittoria Blasigh (10 points) was the lone additional Bull to join Levy in double-digit points. Senior forward Evelien Lutje Schipholt grabbed 10 boards, noting her seventh game of 10 or more rebounds this season.
East Carolina's Danae McNeal opened the second half with a layup, but across the following three and a half minutes, the Bulls strung together 14 unanswered points. Within the run Lutje Schipholt led the way with five points, and with under six minutes to play in the third quarter, South Florida led, 34-28. Later on in the final quarter, the Bulls stayed in front by as many as 14 points en route to the victory.
Temple 68, Tulane 50
The Temple women's basketball team (11-9, 5-3 The American) claimed victory over the Tulane Green Wave (8-11, 1-7 The American), 68-50 Sunday afternoon in New Orleans. With the win, Temple improves to 3-1 in conference road games on the year. The victory moves Temple into a tie for fourth place in the American Athletic Conference.
Demi Washington and Tarriyonna Gary each impressed for the second straight game. Washington led all scorers with 22 points to tie her career high. Gary contributed 16. It marks the second straight game for both they landed in double figures.
North Texas 87, UAB 72
The UNT women's basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference with its 87-72 victory over UAB inside The Super Pit Sunday afternoon.
Behind DesiRay Kernal's 28 points, the Mean Green won their seventh-consecutive conference game, tying the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 teams for the longest conference winning streak in program history. The victory also improved North Texas to 17-3 overall on the season, making Jason Burton the winningest first-year head coach in program history as he moved past UNT Hall of Famer, Tina Slinker, who had 16 wins in her first season.
Kernal had her way against the UAB defense, scoring 20 of her 28 points in the first half, including 14 in the second quarter alone that outscored UAB's 13 points for the entire quarter. Behind Kernal who went 6-of-7 from the field, UNT posted its highest-shooting percentage in a quarter this season at 84.6% and took control of the game as it doubled up UAB, 26-13 in the quarter to take a 40-30 lead into halftime.
A 10-2 run to open the second half put North Texas further ahead and gave them a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game. Even with Kernal on the bench for the majority of the third quarter after picking up two quick fouls, the Mean Green continued to dominate the Blazers' defense in the paint. Tommisha Lampkin finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, while the Mean Green collectively racked up 50 points in the paint. Dyani Robinson also had 18 points of her own for the game.A dangerous UAB offense that was second in the conference in scoring entering the game began to catch its stride in the fourth quarter. Although the Blazers put up 24 points in the final quarter, Kernal and Lampkin kept UNT's lead safe as they combined for 16 points to seal the game.
Kernal's final bucket of the game tied a career-high that she set earlier this season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
UAB's two star guards were held in check for the majority of the day by the Mean Green. Mia Moore had 15 points matching her season average, but entered the game averaging 9.9 rebounds and was held to just five on Sunday, while Denim DeShields had 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting after averaging 18 points per game on 47.5% shooting in the Blazers' first seven games of conference play.