TAMPA – In a game that went down to the very last second, South Florida held on to defeat Wichita State, 61-57, Tuesday night at the Yuengling Center.

Round 2 between Wichita State (13-13, 4-9) and South Florida will take place in just two days in Charles Koch Arena. Leading by two with just 14 seconds on the clock and the shot clock expiring, South Florida's Elisa Pinzan knocked down a 30-footer to put the Bulls up by five, essentially icing the game.

Mariah McCully recorded her second straight 20-point game and fifth of the season with 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Jane Asinde registered her team-leading eight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Seraphine Bastin was instrumental down the stretch in helping the Shockers take a late lead, finishing with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists.

The matchup featured the top two rebounding teams in the conference and the two teams tied on the glass with 37 rebounds apiece.

Wichita State finished just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc and didn't connect on its first until a McCully three-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

Wichita State's defense frustrated the Bulls all night, forcing 18 turnovers. Those miscues would lead to 24 points on the other end.

Elisa Pinzan finished two points shy of her career high with 24 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range, none bigger than the one in the waning seconds.

South Florida led by as many as 10 in the first half behind 10 Wichita State turnovers and just 28 percent shooting. The Shockers were just 8-for-29 from the field and 0-for-4 from long range.

Wichita State was able to hang around in large part to rebounding. The Shockers outrebounded the top rebounding team in the league by six in the first 20 minutes, including 11 offensive rebounds.

After South Florida grabbed a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter they pushed it to double figures for the first time at the 3:12 mark behind four straight fast break points. Wichita State fought back to trim the deficit to just five with 48 seconds left in the half, but a late triple from South Florida's Sydni Harvey made it 30-22 at the break.

McCully (6), Asinde (5) and Strong (5) combined for 16 of the team's 22 points in the half.

On the opening play of the second half, South Florida connected on a three-pointer to go up 11, but the Shockers would mount an 8-0 run to pull within three, 37-34.

Five straight points from South Florida's Elisa Pinzan extended the lead back to eight only to see Wichita State score the quarter's final six points. Four of those six belong to McCully who scored 10 points in the third quarter alone.

With 5:57 left in the fourth, Wichita State grabbed its first lead since 2-0 on a Bastin three-point play to make it 47-46. The two teams traded the lead back and forth over the next 2:00 minutes until a McCully triple gave the Shockers a 54-52 lead with 3:03 remaining.

Pinzan gave USF the lead (55-54) on her fourth three-pointer, a lead they wouldn't relinquish, and only 1:43 left. The Bulls would miss 3-of-4 free throws at the 1:00 minute mark leaving the door open, but an empty possession gave USF the ball with 38 seconds on the clock.

After a USF timeout and the shot clock running down, Pinzan drained a fadeaway 30-foot three-pointer to put the Bulls up 59-54. Following Wichita State's final timeout, Carla Bremaud connected on a triple at the top of the key to make it a two-point game and still 9 seconds to go.

South Florida nearly turned it over on the inbounds pass, but Elena Tsineke was able to escape and put the final touches on the game with an uncontested breakaway layup as time expired.

Up Next
Wichita State and South Florida square off again in just two days on Feb. 24, this time in Charles Koch Arena at 6 p.m. CT.