USF women’s basketball shattered the school record for points scored in a game in a 129-80 blowout of the St. Francis on Wednesday night at the Sun Dome.
The #22 Bulls were 48-73 from the floor, 12-25 from three-point range, and outrebounded the Red Storm 54-33. The previous record for points in a game was set by USF in a 126-68 win over vs. Grambling St. on Dec. 18th, 2008.
“We got to play a lot of people, and we shared the ball,” said head coach Jose Fernandez, who is now six wins short of 300 for his career, all at USF. “We got a good team this year. We’re just different. It’s a different style, different guys on the team, and I like where we’re at right now.”
Despite the loss of program’s all-time leading scorer in Courtney Williams, undefeated USF (8-0) is one of the early surprises in women’s college basketball this season, ranked #22 by the AP and #19 by USA Today.
The Bulls also set the school record for field goals made (48) and shooting percentage (65.8%) vs. Division I opponents. The win tied a team record for consecutive victories to start a season with eight, set also in 1977-78 and 2012-13. A win over Long Beach State in Play4Kay Tournament in Las Vegas in next Monday would give the Bulls the first 9-0 start in school history.
USF led from a 10-0 run after tip-off until the final horn.
“We share the ball a lot, and that makes basketball a lot easier,” said junior guard Maria Jespersen, who led all scorers with 24 points on 9-15 shooting. “We rely a lot more on that everyone can score, moving the ball.” “A game like this shows everyone can score on this team.”
Eleven different Bulls posted points, with seven players in double figures.
Fernandez said he wasn’t aware of the impending-record score during the game. “No. I guess I’ve been here too long.” “I had no idea,” said Jespersen, whose final tally with 1:50 to play was an old-fashioned three-point play: the field goal tied the record of 126 points, and the free throw with 1:50 remaining broke it.
St. Francis (3-5) was 19-54 from three-point range on their 82 field goal attempts, and were fearless in shooting from anywhere inside half-court. But they lacked the size and athleticism of the Bulls, who ran up and down the floor mostly uninhibited, especially around the rim.
USF opens the eight-team Play4Kay Tournament vs. Long Beach St. at 3:30 p.m. on December 19th at T-Mobile Arena, with the semifinal and final rounds as well as consolation games taking place December 20th and 21st.