For much of the night on Tuesday, it looked like the USF women's basketball team would continue its winning ways. The Bulls led by nine points over Temple in the final minute of the third quarter.
Alas, appearances were deceiving. The host Owls dominated the fourth quarter and claimed an 86-83 American Conference victory. It snapped USF's five-game winning streak and dropped the Bulls to 5-2 in league play. Rice, at 6-0 in the American, is the team to catch.
The Owls had lost four of their first five conference games, including their last three in a row, before beating the Bulls.
"We didn't defend," interim head coach Michele Woods-Baxter said on the postgame radio show. "We just didn't defend."
The numbers back up her analysis. The 86 points represented Temple's highest scoring total in six conference games. The Owls put up 51 points in the second half and outscored USF 25-17 in the fatal fourth quarter.
They hit 6-of-11 field goals but the real damage was done at the foul line. Temple was 13-of-17 on free throws in the final quarter after shooting just 10 foul shots combined in the first three periods. The Bulls were just 5-of-20 from the field in the fourth.
"I don't think we attacked a basket looking to score or looking to get fouled," Woods-Baxter said. "And I thought we just settled at times. I mean, we scored 83 points. We scored enough points to win. We didn't defend."
Carla Brito became the 29th player in USF history to reach 1,000 career points as she knocked down a career-best five 3-pointers en route to 20 points. She also had nine rebounds to lead the Bulls.
USF stays on the road Saturday when the Bulls travel to Boca Raton to face Florida Atlantic. Woods-Baxter said the defense needs to get fixed in a hurry.
"We've got to get better on the defensive end," she said. "If you give FAU as many shots from the three (point line) as you did Temple, you're gonna lose."