Marshall fell behind early and lost 77-68 to South Florida on Wednesday afternoon in womenƵs college basketball.
The Thundering Herd (5-4) battled a physical Bulls (9-3) squad in front of 5,573 spectators at the Yuengling Center.
Marshall junior guard Roshala Scott scored a career-high 28 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Redshirt junior Mahogany Matthews also scored a career-best 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Junior Abby Beeman came within one rebound of her first double-double of the season, with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Marshall responded to South FloridaƵs physical play, grabbing 29 rebounds against a team thatƵs 20th in the nation in that category.
ƵWe played a good basketball team today,Ƶ Herd coach Tony Kemper said. ƵIt was physical; the energy in the building was great. I thought our team handled it pretty well, but it was a fun environment to play in. I think we grew. I think we are a better basketball team now than we were when we came in here today as long as we take the lessons and hold onto them and put them into work in our next game against St. Bonaventure and on down the road.Ƶ
Marshall matched the Bulls early, leading 14-12 behind 11 points from Scott in the first quarter. South Florida, though, went on a 13-0 run to close the quarter. The Herd outscored the Bulls 25-20 in the second quarter to pull within 45-39 by halftime, then scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take the lead. South Florida, though, used a 19-4 advantage the rest of the period to pull away.
Dulcy Fankham-Mendjiadeu led the Bulls with 17 points. Elena Tsineke scored 16.
Kemper said the game will benefit his team, which entertains St. Bonaventure at 1 p.m. Sunday at Cam Henderson Center.
ƵMy feeling with us walking out of there today was that you can feel the ones who have been through an environment like that, and you can feel the ones that needed the 6-7 minutes that they got tonight so that they can grow as basketball players,Ƶ Kemper said. ƵI think that there are lessons in there today that they learned and I think that they will be better for that.Ƶ
Fans may wear ƵUgly Holiday Sweaters and HatsƵ for $1 admission to SundayƵs game. Santa Marco will appear for pictures.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
