No. 22 South Florida women crush SMU 83-56

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Kitija Laksa scored a career-high 38 points and No. 22 South Florida crushed SMU 83-56 on Thursday.

Laksa, a freshman from Latvia, was 15 of 24 from the field, including 8 of 12 on 3-point attempts. Laura Ferreira had 12 points and 12 boards and Shalethia Stringfield scored 11. The Bulls (11-3, 4-0 American) shot over 47 percent and outrebounded SMU 50-43.

SMU (6-9, 1-3) was led by McKenzie Adams with 20 points. Gabrielle Wilkins had 14 points, 13 boards, four assists and four steals.

Wilkins made the first shot of the game, a 3-pointer, to give SMU its only lead of the game. USF led 18-12 after one, then went on an 11-2 run at the start of the second - including a 3-pointer by Laksa - and built a 44-17 lead at intermission.

South Florida scored the last 10 points of the game after SMU got within 17 points in the fourth.