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Women's Basketball Tumbles to South Florida, 55-52
TAMPA - As expected Aiya Shepard led South Florida in scoring against

Southern Mississippi. The diminutive sophomore guard also did the

unexpected, leading the Bulls to a 55-52 victory over the Golden Eagles

Sunday afternoon at the USF Sun Dome.

The win was USF's first since Dec. 30 against Towson, was the first

Conference USA win for the Bulls and ended the second-longest losing streak

in the program's 29 seasons at 11 games. Another loss would have tied the

longest streak of 12 established six seasons earlier.

"This is just a credit to the girls continuing to work hard and

continuing to believe that we're better than our record," said USF head

coach Jose Fernandez who had just seven players see action. "We came in

here with three wins and hadn't won a game in league play. Southern Miss is

a good club. They have won five games in Conference USA. I believe we're

playing our best basketball of the year right now. The girls are really

focused."

Shepard paced the USF offense for the eighth time in the last 10

games and for the 15th time in this difficult season with 27 points. The

scoring total was her second-highest of the year and the third-highest of

her career. She was 9-of-21 from the floor, 7-of-9 from the line, had a

team-high seven rebounds and a game-high four steals.

"She can go, she can motor," said Fernandez. "She really creates a

lot of match-up problems for guards because she has such a great first step

and it's just a credit to her when she can get by somebody and then stop and

knock down a 12-foot jumper. She can go left and finish with her left.

She's been working on her game and has really made a commitment to this team

and to herself to become a complete player."

Southern Miss coach Rick Reeves was impressed. "They did what we

used to do to people last year and that's spread the floor and let Shepard

take it," said Reeves. "When you have one great player like that you can

keep yourself in the game."

Shepard wasn't surprised with the result. "Everyone is tired of

losing and it wears on us but we knew we had a good chance to win today,"

she said. "Last time we played we outscored them in the second half at

their place. Today our shots were falling. We felt good at halftime. We

usually play better in the second half and we put together a solid 20

minutes."

There were five ties and 12 lead changes in the game including nine

in the second half. A Shepard steal with 1:07 remaining in the game

followed by a layup two seconds later gave USF the lead for good at 51-50.

Shepard grabbed a defensive rebound on the ensuing Southern Miss possession

then hit a pair of free throws with :44 left to give USF a 53-50 advantage.

Shannon Layne, who joined Shepard in double figures with 13 points,

gave the Bulls a five-point cushion at 55-50 with two free throws with :15.2

left. "In the past four games we've really started to come together," said

Layne. "We felt like we had a good chance today. We were still int he game

at halftime and we just believed that we could come out and have a great

start to the second half."

Trailing 28-22 at intermission, the Bulls (4-19, 1-11) opened the

second half with a 15-2 run capped by a Shepard three-pointer at 13:05 that

put her club in control at 37-30.

"This is a learning process and hopefully we are starting to learn

how to win," said Fernandez. "We came of the lockerroom with enthusiasm,

built a seven-point lead. We had a lead in the second half and sqaundered

it. We're still learning but when it counted today people stepped up and

made shots. People stepped up and we rebounded."

Angela Johnson hit two free throws to give Southern Miss (12-12,

5-8) a 44-32 lead with 6:16 left. Lana Lewis gave the Golden Eagles their

final lead at 50-49 with a jumper with 2:00 to play.

USF's shooting was its best in nine games at 39.2 percent and

included a solid 46.2 percent second-half effort. The Bulls turned the ball

over just 10 times, the lowest total since committing the same amount 10

games ago in a five-point loss at Louisville.

"We turn the ball over only 10 times, we're only outrebounded by

three and we shot 40 percent," said Fernandez. "And, we hit 11-of-15 at the

free throw line. It was solid effort and I'm real happy for these kids."

Southern Miss was led by Victoria Mason's 10 points while Johnson

added 10. Jessica Woods came off the bench and grabbed a game-high 10

rebounds.