Laksa scores 29, leads No. 22 South Florida women to OT win

Dec 21, 2017, 04:03 am

NEW ORLEANS -- Kitija Laksa scored 29 points, including a key jumper in overtime, and No. 22 South Florida rallied to beat Dayton 93-87 on Wednesday night in the New Orleans Shootout.

Laksa's basket with 56 seconds left in overtime gave USF an 89-85 lead. Dayton cut the lead on Lauren Cannatelli's two free throws but Laia Flores made 2 of 4 free throws and Laksa added two more with three seconds left while Dayton missed two free throws and two field-goal attempts.

USF (10-2) trailed by 12 points early in the fourth quarter. Laksa scored the Bulls' final 13 points of the period with her two free throws putting USF up 76-72 with 27 seconds remaining. Dayton's Jayla Scaife scored with three seconds left to send the game into overtime tied at 76.

Laksa, who came in as the nation's fourth-leading scorer at 23 points per game, missed her first nine 3-point attempts and had only four points at the half but made her final three from the arc -- two in the fourth quarter and another in overtime. Laura Ferreira made four treys and scored 22 points with 10 rebounds. Alyssa Rader had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Flores had 10 assists.

Cannatelli made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points to lead the Flyers (6-4). Jenna Burdette added 20 points and Scaife 19.