USF women beat LSU to advance in NCAA Tournament

By Joey Knight
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Updated: March 22, 2015

They fed off the crowd and the quick whistles. They scored both in transition and in the trenches. Their scoring was balanced, their fans boisterous.

All in all, the USF women’s first NCAA Tournament game in two years registered as a command performance.

They’ll attempt the encore Monday night.

Before a Sun Dome crowd of 5,560, the sixth-seeded Bulls’ ensemble effort shined the better part of 48 minutes Saturday night in a 73-64 triumph against No. 11 LSU. USF (27-7), which now shares the school single-season victories record with the 2008-09 squad, hosts Albany Region No. 3 seed Louisville at 9 p.m. Monday.

At stake: the program’s inaugural Sweet 16 berth. Speaking of sweetness …

“Our athletic department and our student body and the atmosphere that was in that arena tonight was just incredible,” Bulls coach Jose Fernandez said. “I took a moment, I went out there and went, ‘Wow, this is what we’ve wanted and have been working for.’ ”

Amid the din created by the crowd were the frequent whistles, many of which benefited the Bulls early. Twelve minutes into the game, LSU, initially slow to adjust to the Bulls’ attack of the rim, had 10 team fouls resulting in 16 Bulls free-throw attempts.

They made 13. The last two during that stretch, by 6-foot-5 center Katelyn Weber, gave USF a 27-15 lead.

“It didn’t fluster us,” said Tigers sophomore Raigyne Moncrief, who watched the Bulls struggle from long range (3-for-17) but flourish from the stripe (22-for-29). “But they were getting the calls and they were making their free throws.”

Meantime, All-America candidate Courtney Williams got on track.

After missing her first six shots, the Bulls junior two-guard eventually caught fire, with three baskets in a 1:47 span late in the half to maintain USF’s 12-point lead.

By night’s end, Williams (17 points, 12 rebounds) had reached 685 points for the season, breaking Jessica Dickson’s single-season USF scoring record.

There still was plenty of stage to go around.

Visibly miffed by LSU’s runner at the first-half buzzer on an inbounds play, USF got consecutive 3-pointers from freshman Laura Ferreira in a 24-second span in the second half’s opening minute to take a 44-32 lead.

“I thought the roof on this place was gonna go off,” Fernandez said. “It was just great, fabulous.”

And when Ferreira and forward Alisia Jenkins (15 points, eight boards) were periodically neutralized by foul trouble, freshman Maria Jespersen (11 points, six rebounds), Weber (nine points, six rebounds) and guard Shalethia Stringfield (nine points, three steals) assumed the slack.

“We got great energy from the bench,” Williams said.

Be it from the bench or nosebleed level, the energy sources were plenteous on this night.

“It’s probably a feeling I will never forget,” said Jespersen, a Denmark native. “I have never in my life tried to play a game with so many people supporting you.”

LOUISVILLE 86, BYU 53: The Cardinals (26-6) exploited BYU’s miscues and their size advantage with equal proficiency in their opening-round romp.

The 14th-seeded Cougars (23-10), who averaged 14 turnovers entering the tournament, had that many with 6:35 to play before halftime and finished with 30.

Louisville, which started three players at least 6 feet 2, converted them into 38 points and finished with 44 points in the paint.

Six-foot-2 freshman Myisha Hines-Allen (game-high 19 points, eight rebounds) was among four Cardinals in double figures. Palm Harbor University High alumna Kristine Fuller scored seven off the bench for BYU.