TOP-SEEDED USF ADVANCES TO ITS EIGHTH-STRAIGHT AAC SEMIFINAL WITH 48-44 WIN OVER WICHITA STATE

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TOP-SEEDED USF ADVANCES TO ITS EIGHTH-STRAIGHT AAC SEMIFINAL WITH 48-44 WIN OVER WICHITA STATE

March 09, 2021

 

Story Links

• Final Stats (PDF)

 

Game Details
(1) No. 20 South Florida 48, (9) Wichita State 44
South Florida (16-3), Wichita State (6-12)
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 | 3 p.m. ET | ESPN+
Fort Worth, Texas | Dickies Arena
 
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) (March 9, 2021) — Sydni Harvey scored 14 points and No. 20 South Florida, the top seed in the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship, pulled out a 48-44 win over ninth-seeded Wichita State in the quarterfinals at Dickies Arena on Tuesday.

Elena Tsineke added 12 points for the Bulls (16-3), who overcame 24.6% shooting (15 of 61) and 16 turnovers. They will play fourth-seeded Temple in the semifinals on Wednesday. The Bulls appearance in the semifinal round marks their eighth in as many years in the conference.

Bethy Mununga, who averages 11.2 points, was limited to three points on three shots, but she grabbed 15 rebounds, seven on the offensive end where the Bulls had an 18-9 advantage for a 14-5 difference in second-chance points.

Trajata Colbert scored 13 points for the Shockers (5-14), Mariah McCully added 11 and Seraphine Bastin 10 with eight rebounds and six assists. Asia Strong had 13 rebounds. Wichita State was just 1 of 11 from 3-point range, shot 32.8% overall (19 of 58) and had 22 turnovers.

Colbert's three-point play to open the fourth quarter put the Shockers on top 38-37 but Tsineke and Harvey countered with baskets inside and the Bulls stayed ahead the rest of the way. Bastin cut the deficit to one point with 5:02 to go but the Shockers missed their next four shots until Colbert's bucket with less than 10 seconds to go.

USF athletics communications contributed to this story.

Key Stats
10-3 – USF took advantage of 14 Wichita State miscues on the afternoon which led to its 10 points off turnovers, eight of which came in the second half.
14-5 – The Bulls held a 47-41 advantage on the boards, including a 14-5 margin on the offensive boards … USF's control of the offensive glass led to a 14-5 advantage in second-chance points.

Notable

• South Florida's win improves the Bulls' record in the American Athletic Conference Tournament to 13-7 all-time.
• USF's victory over Wichita State improves its record against the Shockers to 4-2 all-time … The Bulls have also won four-straight games against Wichita State.
• Sydni Harvey's 14-point performance against Wichita State is her 12^th double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Elena Tsineke's 12 points marked her 11^th double-figure game of the year.
• Bethy Mununga's 15 rebounds marked her 15^th double-figure rebounding game of the season and the 32^nd of her career. 

Up Next
USF will face fourth-seeded Tulane on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET in the tournament semifinals ... The winner of that contest advances to the American Athletic Conference Championship game on Thursday at 10 p.m. on ESPNU. 
 
About USF Women's Basketball
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF women's basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
 
 USF notched its ninth consecutive 19-win season and was poised for its ninth straight postseason appearance in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the end of the college basketball season. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in Elena Tsineke and Elisa Pinzan. Tsineke was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, in addition to The American All-Freshman Team and Third Team All-Conference; while Pinzan was named a Third Team All-Conference selection.
 
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez's 20 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to nine 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 350 games.

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

Thanks for that forensic analysis Data!

Bottom line, whatever you Negative Nancy's want to say....We will win this Conference Championship!

I feel it in my Bones, and that has rarely failed me ya'll.

[puc86]

2 hours ago, Jonesy Bull said:

Thanks for that forensic analysis Data!

Bottom line, whatever you Negative Nancy's want to say....We will win this Conference Championship!

I feel it in my Bones, and that has rarely failed me ya'll.

I just like that the program is in a position where this can be viewed as failure, I would kill for this level of success in football or men’s basketball.

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

16 minutes ago, puc86 said:

I just like that the program is in a position where this can be viewed as failure, I would kill for this level of success in football or men’s basketball.

Zip it with your negative vibes,

I feel positive vibes that we will win this CC.....so be gone with you Devil!

[puc86]

Just now, Jonesy Bull said:

Zip it with your negative vibes,

I feel positive vibes that we will win this CC.....so be gone with you Devil!

I’m agreeing with you, I am happy with their success and see no reason we couldn’t achieve it as we have actually put ourself in position to win. I am just pointing out that I think it’s funny that people would look to find failure here as it’s probably the last place anyone should be looking when we otherwise live in the land of opportunity for it.

[DELdaBull]

Too close for comfort.  Let's cruise today. 

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

8 hours ago, puc86 said:

I’m agreeing with you, I am happy with their success and see no reason we couldn’t achieve it as we have actually put ourself in position to win. I am just pointing out that I think it’s funny that people would look to find failure here as it’s probably the last place anyone should be looking when we otherwise live in the land of opportunity for it.

I know you are, I'm just messing with you Puc.

It would be nice if Football and Men's BB was at this level.  Hopefully we won't have to wait until we are in a Nursing Home before it happens.

I do think we will pull this off.  Tougher game today against Tulane, so we better play a hell of a lot better.  The Knats have a tough assignment with Houston.  Should be an interesting evening of BB.

 

[BullyPulpit]

12 hours ago, puc86 said:

I’m agreeing with you, I am happy with their success and see no reason we couldn’t achieve it as we have actually put ourself in position to win. I am just pointing out that I think it’s funny that people would look to find failure here as it’s probably the last place anyone should be looking when we otherwise live in the land of opportunity for it.

Everything is relative. This isn't a matter of looking to find failure as much as it is concern over the drop in performance since the Covid break. Anyone critical of CJF as a HC is a moron, but I do hope that the level and quality of play improve over the next two games and heading into the tournament. 

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

42 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

Everything is relative. This isn't a matter of looking to find failure as much as it is concern over the drop in performance since the Covid break. Anyone critical of CJF as a HC is a moron, but I do hope that the level and quality of play improve over the next two games and heading into the tournament. 

How much can we really blame Covid for our current play?  We have back playing now since Feb 13th, pretty much a month ago.  Seems by now, we would have gotten back into playing shape and worked out the kinks.

Last night was a Survive and Advance game, and luckily we were playing Wichita so were able to get by with playing probably our C game.  If we just raise the level of play to a B today we should beat Tulane.  We need our A game in the Championship though, and I think the girls will be hungry enough if we get that far to put it all out on the floor.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Jonesy Bull

[BullyPulpit]

1 hour ago, Jonesy Bull said:

How much can we really blame Covid for our current play?  We have back playing now since Feb 13th, pretty much a month ago.  Seems by now, we would have gotten back into playing shape and worked out the kinks.

Last night was a Survive and Advance game, and luckily we were playing Wichita so were able to get by with playing probably our C game.  If we just raise the level of play to a B today we should beat Tulane.  We need our A game in the Championship though, and I think the girls will be hungry enough if we get that far to put it all out on the floor.

I'm not "blaming" Covid for the current play, but anyone can see that this team has looked drastically different since the return to action. I don't know what the explanation is. I think part of it, which I outlined, is taking minutes away from Jordao and Alvarez, but who really knows. It's nice having a bunch of contributors, but it would also be nice to have a go-to, clear cut scorer that we could count on in crunch time, and we are definitely lacking that on this year's team. They will have to step up their game to win today and then even more to win Thursday. I know they are capable of doing so, but we will see if they do it.