GAMEDAY Womens Basketball
Houston 71, South Florida 69
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. - Laila Blair hit six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points to help Houston edge No. 24 South Florida 71-69, ending a number of winning streaks for the Bulls.
South Florida, which had won 12 straight, was 12-0 at home and was trying to go 12-0 in American Athletic Conference play for the first time.
Houston, which never trailed after a Blair 3-pointer made it 7-5 and led by 13 in the third quarter, never flinched when Sammie Puisis hit a 3-pointer for South Florida to tie the game 58 with 7:35 to play. The Cougars never led by more than four the rest of the way.
It was 40-31 at the half as Blair pulled up for a buzzer-beating 3 a couple steps inside half court.
Bria Patterson made 1 of 2 free throws with 12.2 seconds left to put Houston on top 70-66. Elena Tsineke converted a three-point play with 4.9 to go but after Patterson again made 1 of 2 foul shots at four seconds, USF had no timeouts left to get off a good shot.
Britney Onyeji scored 14 points for Houston (10-13, 7-3), which has won four straight. Tiara Young had 13 points and Patterson 11.
The Cougars only shot 41% and were out-rebounded 41-24, but they made 11 of 24 from 3-point range and forced 19 USF turnovers.
Tsineke scored 24 points and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu added 19 with 19 rebounds for the Bulls (22-5, 11-1). It was the 52nd double-double for Fankam Mendjiadeu, half coming from her years at Memphis and the rest at USF.
Febraury 12, 2023
| Houston | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| B. Patterson | F | 37 | 3-8 | 3-6 | 2-5 | 2-4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| T. Hill | F | 18 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| K. Jones | F | 8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| L. Blair | G | 40 | 9-21 | 6-8 | 6-13 | 0-3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 30 |
| B. Onyeje | G | 32 | 5-7 | 1-3 | 3-5 | 1-4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| T. Young | 32 | 6-18 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
| A. Miller | 12 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| L. McNeil | 10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| T. Purvis | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| A. Thompson | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| A. Conn | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 201 | 24-58 (.414) |
12-23 (.522) |
11-24 (.458) |
9-24 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 27 | 71 | |
| South Florida | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| D. Fankam Mendjiadeu | F | 39 | 7-10 | 5-10 | 0-0 | 4-19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 19 |
| C. Brito | F | 25 | 4-7 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 4-6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| S. Puisis | G | 40 | 3-9 | 1-2 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| E. Tsineke | G | 40 | 7-13 | 9-9 | 1-2 | 1-5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 24 |
| A. Wilson | G | 23 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| M. Alvarez | 15 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| D. Gonzalez | 15 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1-8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| M. Asensio | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| E. Johansson | 1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Totals | 200 | 23-44 (.523) |
19-27 (.704) |
4-11 (.364) |
10-41 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 18 | 69 | |
Officials: Mark McClenney, Toni Patillo, Timothy Resch
Attendance: 2,381
