Gregory won his opener when his team came from behind./CARMEN MANDATO
Saturday, 2 a.m.
The haves or the have-nots of USF basketball followed the same path to victory Friday night. They both took over a game in the final 75 seconds to pull the win out.
The haves, or the USF women, beat a name opponent to start a quest for yet another 20-win season when they beat LSU 61-55. USF, ranked 23rd in the polls, has won 20 games for five straight seasons (and eight overall.)
It was an impressive opening game for the Bulls. USF's Maria Jesperson had 20 points and Kitija Laksa had 16 to lead the victory.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!
Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
Fermandez has eight 20-win seasons./CARMEN MANDATO
USF led by only 55-53 with 1:13 to play. But LSU missed its last three shots, and FSU hit four free throws to close out the game.
Jiggets took over in the last two minutes./CARMEN MANDATO
“You want to play the good teams,” said Jesperson. “Of course, there are always nerves in the first game, it doesn’t matter who you are playing. But since this one was so important, we didn’t have a chance to think about our nerves. I think it means a lot that we are so experienced. We’ve been in these situations before and we know what
needs to be done in order to win those games. This is a game we probably could have lost last year because we were so inexperienced.”
Laksa scored 16 for USF women./CARMEN MANDATO
The Have-Nots, on the other hand, are the USF men's basketball team. And, yes, they may be headed for their sixth straight losing season.
For one night, however, USF took a 60-59 win over Florida International. The Bulls trailed 59-56 with 1:20 to play, but Stephan Jiggets scored the Bulls' final four points to help the USF pull out the game.
Tulia Da Silva scored 20 points to lead the Bulls and had a steal in the final seconds.
Da Silva scored 20 points to lead USF./CARMEN MANDATO
The win was Brian Gregory's first as new coach of the Bulls.
He prefered to talk, however, about Da Silva.
“Over the last two weeks, his daily habits have just gotten better and better and better,” Gregory said. “It's not rocket science. If you practice harder and practice better on a daily basis, you have a better chance of playing well and that's exactly what he's doing."
The USF women play against Houston Baptist Sunday at 2 p.m. USF's men play Morgan State on Monday night.
Jespersen led USF with 20 points./CARMEN MANDATO
{ 0 comments… read it below or Subscriptions }