Tampa, Fla. ? The Stetson women's basketball team (1-2) had no answer for the size and hot three-point shooting of host USF (3-0) on Tuesday evening, suffering a 103-55 loss at the Sun Dome. Freshman guard Jessica Bivins (Orlando, Fla.) led the team with 10 points.
Ahead 54-33 at halftime, USF kept the pressure on coming out of the locker room, extending its lead to 29 points by the first media timeout. The Bulls never looked back, going on to win 104-55. USF became the first team to hit the century mark against the Hatters since South Carolina did it on January 4, 2003.
Sophomore guard Brittany Carannante (Clearwater, Fla.) scored a season-high nine points and junior forward Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) added eight. Senior center Ayesha Barkley (East Orange, N.J.) scored seven points in her first game of the season after coming back from a preseason knee injury. Sophomore guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) grabbed a team-high six rebounds to go with five points, three assists and three steals.
USF, which had four players 6'2” or taller in its rotation to one for the Hatters, torched Stetson inside and out, hitting 10 three-pointers and outscoring the Hatters 38-20 in the paint. Jazmine Sepulveda scored 24 points with six assists while Shantia Grace had 19 points, five assists and two steals.
Stetson hung with the Bulls early, taking a brief lead within one point with 12:30 left in the first half. Bivins scored eight of Stetson's first 13 points. It was at that point that USF buried four quick three-pointers to extend the lead to double figures. The Hatters never threatened again as USF raced away to a 54-33 lead at halftime. Bivins had eight points at the break while Carannante had five.
The Hatters return to the court Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when they take on Florida at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville. Bill Topping and Dee Romine will broadcast the action; their play-by-play and analysis can be heard through Hatter Vision at www.GoHatters.com, the official online home of Stetson Athletics.
