The Seton Hall women's basketball team lost their eighth straight game, falling to the University of South Florida 57-45 from the USF Recreation Center in Tampa.
With the loss, Seton Hall is now 7-14 on the year and 0-7 in Big East games.
The Hall led by as many as 12 points in the game, but could not hold onto the lead in the final eight minutes.
During those final eight minutes, the Bulls went on a 18-2 run to secure the victory for South Florida.
Defense was the key for the Pirates in the first half. They forced South Florida into shooting 20 percent from the field, with just six made baskets for the Bulls, while the Pirates shot 40 percent.
Sophomore forward Nicosia Henry was the spark for the Pirates in the frame. She had five points and eight rebounds, all from outside the paint.
Junior Alex Maseko was perfect from the floor in the opening period, scoring seven point to go with four rebounds.
The Pirates led at the half for the first time during Big East play, with a 26-21 advantage at the break.
But the second half was the complete opposite from the first.
The Pirates started the half just as they finished the previous one. They hit several shots in a row, while also forcing off-angle shots from the Bulls, enroute to a 12-point lead with 15:52 to play.
At this point in the game, South Florida took over. Switching from a man-to-man to a zone defense, with a full court press, the Pirates could not establish any offense.
The Hall turned the ball over nine times in the second half, leading to 14 points for the Bulls.
Senior guard Jasmine Wynne scored 14 of her 19 points in the second period and defensively took senior Jasmine Crew and sophomore Brittany Morris out of the game.
Crew was not a factor in the game. She was in foul trouble for much of the game and finished with just six points on 2-12 shooting from the field while pulling down six rebounds. She fouled out six minutes remaining in the game and the Hall trailing by five points.
Senior Tajay Ashmeade led the Pirates against South Florida collecting 10 rebounds while scoring eight points in the loss.
The Bulls shot 47.8 percent from the floor in the second half, while holding Seton Hall to just 27.3 percent, to help their comeback cause.
The Pirates host No. 23 DePaul on Saturday. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. from Walsh Gymnasium.
Tim LeCras can be reached at timothy.lecras@student.shu.edu.
