USF Women’s Basketball Bounces Back With 89-73 Win Over Temple

The USF women’s basketball team came away with an 89-73 win over Temple on Wednesday night at McGonigle Hall to improve to 13-4 overall and 3-1 in American Athletic Conference play.

Four days removed from being held scoreless in the blowout loss to UConn, junior guard Kitija Laksa wouldn’t allow a repeat Wednesday night leading all scorers with 29 points. Laksa drained her first four from beyond the arc to help give the Bulls an early 23-15 first quarter lead.

She finished 10-of-22 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point range in 37 minutes.

The Bulls were knocking down everything from long distance early in the game and back-to-back threes from freshman Vanessa Blagmon and senior Maria Jespersen sparked an 8-0 run to give the Bulls a 35-22 second quarter lead.

Blagmon played just four minutes, hitting the one three and grabbing two rebounds.

Jespersen finished second in scoring with 20 points, shooting 2-of-4 from three-point range and adding 5 rebounds. It was the fifth game this season in which Jespersen has scored at least 20 points.

USF finished the game with four players in double figures including Laksa, Jespersen, senior Laura Ferreira and freshman Alaba Prieto.

Ferreira finished with 12 points despite shooting 0-of-3 from three in 32 minutes. She added three rebounds and five assists.

As a team, USF shot a solid 50% (32-of-64) from the floor for the game and 43% (9-of-21) from three-point range.

The Bulls built an impressive 71-57 lead at the end of three quarters and didn’t let up in the final period, leading by as much as 20 to improve to 4-1 all-time in Philadelphia and 4-1 on the road this season.

USF will return home Sunday for a huge game against rival C. The Knights are an impressive 11-6 overall and 3-1 in conference. Tipoff is scheduled for noon from the Sun Dome and the game will be televised on ESPNU.