South Florida built a big lead early and held off No. 9 Duke 65-56 in their nonconference matchup on Saturday in Tampa, Fla.
The Bulls’ Sammie Puisis scored 14 of her team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter. After Taina Mair hit a 3-pointer to pull Duke (10-3) within three in the first minute of the fourth, L’or Mputu answered with a layup.
Puisis then scored South Florida’s next nine points during an 11-4 run and the lead was back to 10. Her 3-pointer with 2:32 to play made it a 12-point game, and the Blue Devils never got closer than seven again.
Mputu finished with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting and added 11 rebounds. Vittoria Blasigh and Carla Brito netted 10 points apiece for South Florida (7-6).
Toby Fournier paced Duke with 11 points, and Mair had nine.
No. 12 TCU 92, UCF 52
Madison Connor scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half as the visiting Horned Frogs blew out the short-handed Knights in the Big 12 Conference opener for each team in Orlando, Fla.
Sedona Prince added 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and chipped in seven rebounds and four blocks for TCU (12-1, 1-0 Big 12). Hailey Van Lith contributed 14 points and seven assists.
The Knights were without their top two scorers, Kaitlin Peterson (sixth in the nation at 22.4 points per game) and Hannah Gusters (16.4 ppg). Emely Rodriguez led UCF with 17 points and Nevaeh Brown added 11, though they combined to shoot 11 of 34 from the field.
No. 18 Tennessee 102, Tulsa 61
Sara Puckett led five scorers in double figures with 17 points as the Lady Volunteers clobbered the Golden Hurricane in the West Palm Beach Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Puckett, who entered the game averaging 7.1 points, netted 12 in the second quarter as Tennessee (11-0) outscored Tulsa 41-11. Jewel Spear finished with 16 points, Zee Spearman 15 and Ruby Whitehorn and Talaysia Cooper 13 apiece.
Delanie Crawford notched 17 points, Mady Cartwright added 12 and Jade Clack 11 for Tulsa (6-6).
–Field Level Media