GoUSFBulls.com USF Faces Tulsa in Last Regular Season Road Game

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USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

 

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DATE: February 24, 2017

 

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USF Faces Tulsa in Last Regular Season Road Game

 

TAMPA, FEB. 24, 2017 – The University of South Florida women’s basketball team will play in its final regular season road game Saturday when it takes on Tulsa for the second time this season. The Bulls can clinch at least a No. 3 seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament with a win at Reynolds Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. 

 

The USF IMG Sports Network radio broadcast can be heard on AM 820, featuring Mike Lefko. Hurricane Vision will also stream the contest.

 

USF (21-6, 10-4 The American) is coming off a strong bounce back road win at Houston Tuesday. The Bulls downed the Cougars 79-50, notching their 10^thconference win of the season. USF shot 46 percent, its best performance in the past four games, and scored 40 points in the paint, which is the second most points scored in the paint in league action.

 

Senior Ariadna Pujol (Mataro, Spain) led the way with a team-high 24 points and 14 rebounds while Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia) notched her 12^th 20-point performance with 24 points. Laia Flores (Mataro, Spain) came close to what could have been the program’s second triple-double in the Bulls’ 45-year history. Flores turned in 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

 

Laksa paces the team with 19.2 points per game and 82 three-pointers, which ranks in the top-20 nationally. Maria Jespersen (Arhus, Denmark) averages 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game while Flores’ 6.1 assists per game also ranks in the top 20. Flores continues to rank among the nation’s best point guards with a 2.96 assist-turnover ratio.

 

The Opponent 

USF and Tulsa will face each other for the second time this season and for just the fourth time in program history. The 2016-17 season marks the first time the pair will play a home-and-home. The Bulls are a perfect 3-0 against the Golden Hurricane. 

After almost a week off, Tulsa (8-19, 4-10 The American) returns to Oklahoma after a 62-41 setback at SMU Saturday. The Golden Hurricane were held without a single player in double-figure scoring. Tulsa looks to reverse a five-game losing streak. 

 

Notables

• Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.), a three-time American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week, has tallied 10 rebounds four times in the last five games. 
• Henshaw is second in the league with a conference field goal percentage of .636.
• Flores’ nine assists at Houston pulled within nine assists of the no. two spot in the USF single season record books with 166 assists this season. Anedra Gilmore holds the record with 190 assists and is tied with Shantia Grace for second with 175 assists in a single season.
• USF’s 43.3 rebounds per game leads the league and ranks 15^th nationally. The Bulls’ +9.9-rebounding margin also leads The American. The Bulls average 72.0 points per game and a +12.7-scoring margin which both rank second in the league.  
• The Bulls close out the conference slate with a grueling 4 games across nine days.
• The Bulls have totaled 12 wins by 16 or more points, including five against conference opponents.
• Head coach Jose Fernandez reached 300 career wins Jan. 17. Only three active coaches in the American Athletic Conference have achieved the feat.
• USF is the only team in NCAA Division I with nine international players on its roster.