No. 9 Canes Topple South Florida 92-72

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)– Riquna Williams scored 17 points and No. 9 Miami beat South Florida 92-72 in the final of the Great Alaska Shootout on Thursday night.

Shenise Johnson added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Hurricanes (4-1). Sylvia Bullock, a Miami forward playing in her hometown of Anchorage, scored 10 points.

“We definitely came out here for reasons, one of those was to bring Sylvia home,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “We have five opportunities to win championships this year, there’s four to go.”

Jasmine Wynne led South Florida (4-3) with 21 points. Kaneisha Saunders added 11 points for the Bulls, and Akila McDonald and Andrell Smith had 10 apiece.

Miami led 44-32 at the break, and blew the game open early in the second half.

The Hurricanes went on a 24-7 run during the first 9 minutes to put away the Bulls (4-3).

It’s the second straight game Miami has come out strong in the second half.

“The biggest growth has been our team’s performance in the second half,” Meier said.

Division II Alaska Anchorage had Miami bottled up in the tournament’s first game before a similar strong second half run.

Meier attributes it to the Hurricanes’ strong bench.

“We’re not exhausted at halftime,” she said.

South Florida was down 75-46 with 8:30 left, but a scrappy performance by the Bulls made the final score a little more respectable, South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said.

“If a game is out of reach, you need to win a game within a game, and I think we did that,” he said. “I was disappointed we gave up as many points as we did. We didn’t play defense particularly well here in Alaska.”

Central Michigan beat Alaska Anchorage 90-84 in overtime in the third-place game.

POST GAME NOTES

2011 CARRS/SAFEWAY GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Crystal Bradford, Central Michigan
Kaylie Robinson, Alaska Anchorage
Kaneisha Saunders, USF
Hanna Johansson, Alaska Anchorage
Riquna Williams, Miami
Most Outstanding Player: Shenise Johnson, Miami

WHAT A GAME
Shenise Johnson continues to live up to her reputation as the most versatile player in the nation with her performance in this year’s Great Alaska Shootout. The senior guard scored a game-high 18 points in the first round matchup against host Alaska Anchorage. Though she only scored 11 points in tonight’s championship game, she recorded game-highs in both assists and rebounds tallying nine each.

Her 11 points gave increased her double-digit scoring streak to 76 straight contests – far and away the most in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

THIRD TIME IS A CHARM
This year’s shootout was the third for the Hurricanes and was the first tournament victory in Anchorage for Miami. UM appeared in what was then called the Alaska Northern Lights Invitational in 1984 and 1987, and managed a combined 3-3 record.

WELCOME HOME
Senior forward Sylvia Bullock, an Anchorage, Alaska native, had her homecoming as she played in front a large contingent of family and friends.

Bullock’s sister Beatrice helped Iowa to the Shootout title in 2001. Her brother Peter, meanwhile, played in four Shootouts during his career with UAA (2000-03).

Bullock finished the championship game with 10 points and was a perfect three-of-three from the field.