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Shepard's 22 points send Bulls past UCF

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 22, 2000

TAMPA -- Aiya Shepard thinks it is too early to write off South Florida. She showed why with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead USF past Central Florida 67-58 Tuesday night at the Sun Dome.

"It feels real good for all of us," said Shepard, who helped the Bulls recover from a 35-point loss at Arizona State. "It was the worst feeling ever losing by 35 points when we know we are a better team than that. We said that we had to redeem ourselves for the loss at Arizona State.

"My quickness is a real advantage," said Shepard, who had a game-high four steals. "I am undersized by most standards (5 feet 7), but sometimes my quickness takes over."

Shepard scored 14 second-half points and had four rebounds and three steals.

"She's a great player," acting coach Jose Fernandez said. "Down the stretch we were taking the shot clock down to seven, eight seconds, and we put the ball in her hands. They had some matchup problems guarding her. They had a much bigger girl on her, so Aiya was able to create off the dribble."

The Bulls trailed 25-20 with 3:34 left in the first half but scored the final four points and trailed 25-24 at halftime.

USF rolled the rest of the way. Melissa Tape's three-pointer, one of two in the second half by the freshman point guard, capped a 9-0 run that put the Bull ahead 39-31 with 12:37 left.

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