The USF women’s basketball team continued their dominating season after defeating Temple 79-53 Sunday afternoon at the Sun Dome.
The Bulls (22-5) are second in the American Athletic Conference with a 13-2 conference record, trailing the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies (15-0).
The team is led by junior shooting guard Courtney Williams, who was averaging 20.7 points per game prior to playing Temple. Williams has started every game this season at SG, which is one of the reasons why the Bulls have remained consistent in their 2014-2015 season.
Freshman forward Laura Ferreira has started 24 of the 26 games she has played this season. Ferreira, who has played on the Portuguese national team since she was 14, was an ESPN Top-50 recruit when she came to USF. She has made at least one three-point shot in 16 of the previous games she has played, including three in Sunday’s win.
Sporting pink and gray jerseys in the “Play-4-Kay” game, Ferreira scored a game-high and career-high 17 points in the win over Temple. Following her was Williams with 12 points.
To avoid injury, both Ferreira and Williams were pulled from the game with about 10 minutes left to play.
“We practice really hard,” said Ferreira, who couldn’t stop smiling during her post-game interview. “We take it really serious and when we come to the game, it’s easy.”
The Bulls head coach, Jose Fernandez, is pleased with how his squad has evolved so far this season.
“I think all of our kids have developed,” Fernandez said. “Look how Courtney Williams has developed from last year to this year. I think the biggest development for Laura has been her confidence and her getting used to the game over here.”
The team has their eyes set on the NCAA tournament come mid-March, but still has to take on the defending-champion Huskies again for the regular-season finale on March 2.
Following their rematch against the Huskies, the Bulls will enter the ACC tournament seeking to clinch a spot for the NCAA tournament.
“I’m very proud,” Fernandez said. “It’s a credit to our kids and our staff, getting the right individuals into our program and having good culture. I couldn’t be happier. I’ll be more happy once we close out the year and the conference tournament is over, and we can find out where we’re headed in the NCAA tournament. That’s been our big light at the end of the tunnel all year.”
