College basketball

Tonight: USF women at Cincinnati

By GREG AUMAN
Published January 15, 2006

WHEN/WHERE: 2 p.m., Fifth Third Arena. TV/RADIO: 570-AM and 910 AM. RECORDS: USF 11-5, 1-2 Big East; Cincinnati 10-4, 0-3. COACHES: USF - Jose Fernandez (71-88, sixth season); Cincinnati - Laurie Pirtle (288-279, 20th season; 371-295 overall).

NOTABLE: After losing two league games in the final 10 seconds, this is a key road game for the Bulls, the kind they need to win to stay on pace for the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. Cincinnati leads the all-time series 10-3; USF won last season's game 74-56. With a career-high 37 points in Wednesday's loss to Rutgers, junior Jessica Dickson raised her national-best scoring average to 24.8 points. Center Nalini Miller (11.0) is the only other Bull in double figures. Freshman guard Shantia Grace has 9.7 points and 6.3 assists per game. Treasure Humphries, a 5-foot-6 junior guard averaging 14.9 points, is the Bearcats' leading scorer, but the team has nine players averaging more than 10 minutes, so USF's lack of depth could be an issue. The Bulls have used only seven players in their league games, with freshman guard Jessica Jackson's only action having been to shoot two free throws as an injury replacement. The Bulls return home for two games, with Syracuse on Wednesday and Providence on Saturday before a trip to Connecticut on Jan. 24.

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:48:18]