Bulls Can't Hold Onto Late Lead in Loss at Wichita State

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: January 17, 2018
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Bulls Can't Hold Onto Late Lead in Loss at Wichita State

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

WICHITA, Kan., JAN. 21, 2018 – No. 23 USF led for more than 25 minutes before Wichita State closed the game on a 16-2 run to hand the Bulls a 64-56 loss at Charles Koch Arena on Sunday.

USF (15-5, 5-2) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end after going 2-for-18 from the field in the decisive fourth quarter. Wichita State (9-12, 4-3) outscored the Bulls, 20-4, in the final period to secure its fourth straight win.

Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia) tied for the game high with 16 points and extended her consecutive made free throws streak to 42 with a 4-for-4 performance.

Maria Jespersen (Arhus, Denmark) posted her second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The senior forward moved up to eighth place on USF's career rebounds list with 748, passing Jessica Dickson (746, 2003-07).

Jespersen led the way early with 10 points that helped boost the Bulls to a 31-26 advantage in a back-and-forth first half that featured 10 lead changes. The Bulls went 10-for-12 from the free throw line in the half, shot 50 percent from the floor in the second quarter and scored 12 points off 10 Wichita State turnovers.

USF's offense continued to heat up after the break, scoring 21 points in the third quarter on the way to a 52-44 lead by the end of the period. USF found itself in comeback mode, however, after Wichita State took the lead for the final time with 5:43 remaining. Alyssa Rader's layup with 58 seconds left ended USF's scoreless drought of nearly seven minutes and the Bulls went 1-for-12 from the field down the stretch.

Quotable
Head coach Jose Fernandez's thoughts on the game:
"When you go on the road, you've got to make your free throws. You've got to take care of the ball and everybody is going to play hard and passionate against you. Nobody is going to lay down against a team like us. It's disappointing."

Key Stats
49 – Wichita State outrebounded USF, 49-39, and scored 18 second-chance points.
16-2 – Wichita State closed the game on a 16-2 run over the final 7 minutes, 21 seconds.
4 – USF set a season low for scoring in a quarter with four points in the final period.

Notable
•    USF fell to 0-2 in its all-time series with Wichita State. Sunday marked the first meeting between the programs since 1983.
•    The Bulls saw their four-game road winning streak come to an end. USF is now 5-2 on the road this season.
•    Sunday marked USF's first game in Kansas since winning the WNIT Championship in 2009.
•    Maria Jespersen registered her 10th double-double of the season and the 22nd of her career.
•    Laia Flores dished out two assists and needs six more to move into a tie for second place on USF's career list with Renee Bellamy (429, 1991-94).

Up Next
USF returns to the Sun Dome on Sunday, Jan. 28 to take on Temple at noon (TV: ESPNU). Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
 

 
 

[raptorcj]

Can't win em all, but this might drop us out of ranking. Keep fighting, girls!

[Bausfkid]

Kit 0 fer from behind the arc and MJ 0 for 4 from the charity stripe spells disaster.

They'll bounce back.

Go Bulls!

[DELdaBull]

Tough

[Bull Matrix]

At this point. I will just be happy if they make the NCAA tourney. Not expecting much from them this season. I don’t see a leader on that team like they had before in years past. Next year, I hope to see a leader step up. 

[Dave_Glaser]

Jose needs to lengthen his bench a little. They looked like a tired team.

[DELdaBull]

Jose doesn't play passed the 3rd person on his bench. It is his philosophy. Even in blow outs. 

[BAMABULL]

Ugly 4th quarter.

[BullyPulpit]

This is a DEVASTATING loss. WSU is awful. These are the type of games we cannot afford to lose. We need to upset OSU and cannot afford any more slip ups. Just not seeing the fire and effort from this year's squad. 

[CousinRicky]

We missed 14 of our last 15 shots and shot 3 for 22 from 3 pt land.  Don't think we need to fire the coach or play more bench players. Yes, it was fugly but if we make a few shots we win the game.  Not quite sure how you coach them to shoot better.  Some days (like 11 3s in a row) they go in and some days they don't.  Kit is so wildly streaky it is scary.  She is a liability on D so if she isn't making shots there isn't much contribution from her.  LF isn't even hitting the rim with most of her 3s lately.  But she plays good D and rebounds.  Don't know if it is a confidence thing with her?  Alba was the only one with multiple 3s in the game but not sure how many she missed.  

But we do seem to have 2 or 3 of these games every year; that is losses that we shouldn't have.  Makes you crazy.