Other Sports

Balanced, hot shooting Miami women beat South Florida 78-66

Posted March 18, 2022 7:00 am

By JEFFREY COLLINS

Miami guard Karla Erjavec (25) dribbles the ball past South Florida guard Elisa Pinzan (4) during the second half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022 in Columbia, S.C. Miami won 78-66. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Karla Erjavec scored 14 points to lead a balanced Miami offense to a 78-66 win over South Florida on Friday in the first round of the women's NCAA tournament.

The No. 8 seeded Hurricanes (21-12) shot 54% and all 10 players who played more than a minute scored to help Miami win its ninth game out of the last 11.

Hurricanes coach Katie Meier planned on having her team play a half-court game, like what got them to the Atlantic Coast Conference finals. But she said her players looked like horses raring to go early on, telling her 'œdon't call sets - let us go.'ť

'œSo I kind of let them go a little bit more. When I tried to slow it down didn't look so good. Sometimes you defer to your players, and they were absolutely loudly saying, 'we want to score today,''ť Meier said.

The Hurricanes scored 24 points in the first quarter and led by as much as 19 before halftime. Ninth-seeded South Florida (24-9) kept hanging around, twice cutting the deficit to nine in the second half. But they couldn't get any closer.

The 78 points were the second most the Hurricanes have scored this season. Five players were in double-figures.

'œThey are very, very, very difficult to score against. I'm as surprised as anyone that we got to 78 and that we had three quarters that we got 20 points,'ť Meier said.

Miami advances to Sunday's second round against the tournament's top overall seed South Carolina. The Hurricanes will be playing a third No. 1 seed in the tournament in five games after beating Louisville and losing to North Carolina State in the ACC tournament.

Elena Tsineke led South Florida with 21 points and Elisa Pinzan added 19 points for the Bulls, who played only seven players most of the game and whose bench was outscored 20-9 by Miami.

'œThey were a lot deeper. That's something we need to get better at in the off-season, and we will,'ť South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said.

HOT SHOOTER

Erjavec isn't Miami's best shooter this season, but when the Hurricanes needed her Friday, she was on.

The senior from Croatia had 11 of her 14 points in the second half, twice knocking down key shots when South Florida made runs,

'œThey were come back at us and we were tired and Karla just did things that had nothing to do with coach Meier. It was 100% Karla off a ball screen, Karla off a dig-out, Karla on a little pull-up,'ť Meier said, 'œOne time she shot it and I was like, '~Why not? 'The team started laughing.. Why not Karla?'ť

BIG PICTURE

South Florida: The Bulls ran into a hot shooting team to lose in the first round for the third NCAA tournament in a row.

Miami: The victory was Meier's 400th win. The Hurricanes got 29 points off the bench to just nine points for the Bulls, wearing out South Florida in the fourth quarter.

___

More AP coverage of March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Miami head coach Katie Meier, right, talks with guard Ja'Leah Williams (12) during the second half a first-round game against South Florida in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. Miami won 78-66. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami guard Ja'Leah Williams dribbles the ball during the second half a first-round game against South Florida in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament Friday, March 18, 2022 in Columbia, S.C. Miami won 78-66. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami guard Kelsey Marshall (20) dribbles the ball against South Florida forward Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (32) during the second half of a first round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami guard Ja'Leah Williams (12) drives to the hoop past South Florida guard Elisa Pinzan (4) during the second half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. Miami won 78-66. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

South Florida guard Elena Tsineke dribbles the ball against Miami during the first half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami forward Destiny Harden directs teammates against South Florida during the first half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

South Florida guard Elisa Pinzan grabs a rebound during the second half a first-round game against Miami in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. Miami won 78-66. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

South Florida guard Sydni Harvey (3) is defended by Miami guard Karla Erjavec (25) during the first half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami head coach Katie Meier directs her team during the first half against South Florida in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022 in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Miami guard Lashae Dwyer (13) dribbles the ball ahead of South Florida guard Elena Tsineke (5) during the first half a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) The Associated Press

Article Comments

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.