Congratulations to the Women's Bball Team! --Way to Finish!

[Flowers4Heisman]

That was some exciting basketball!

 

Too bad the ESPN feed failed at a bad time. I wish I could have seen the finish. Awesome win!

 

GO BULLS!

[Brad]

Bulls Win First-Ever NCAA Tournament Game, Stun Texas Tech

Recap Below:

BULLS STUN TEXAS TECH IN NCAA TOURNEY

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas – USF stunned Texas Tech and its rowdy home crowd Saturday night to secure its first NCAA tournament win in program history.

"It means a lot. I think not only does it help our program, it helps our entire athletic department and our university," head coach Jose Fernandez said.

Inga Orekhova hit five 3-pointers and finished with 20 points to help the Bulls advance to Monday night's second-round test against second-seeded Cal back at the United Spirit Center.

Orekhova's final 3-pointer tied the game at 66 with 1:09 remaining.

"I had the mentality that this has to go in," Orekhova said.

Andrell Smith heated up in the second half to finish with 13 points and USF got stellar contributions from its freshmen. Guard Courtney Williams scored 12 points and Alisia Jenkins' late free throws got her up to 10 points. Jenkins made both of her free throw attempts with four seconds remaining and her final shot sealed the win for the Bulls. USF led by seven points with less than eight minutes to go before the Lady Raiders made their final charge.

Fernandez said a big key to victory would be controlling play in the paint and the Bulls delivered. Jenkins posted a team-high eight rebounds as USF finished with a 45-40 edge on the glass. Akila McDonald and Andrea Smith added seven rebounds apiece and helped the Bulls finish with a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint.

"It shows the type of team that we have and the type of character we have. Different girls stepped up," Fernandez said.

[charsibb]

Bulls Win First-Ever NCAA Tournament Game, Stun Texas Tech

Recap Below:

BULLS STUN TEXAS TECH IN NCAA TOURNEY

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas – USF stunned Texas Tech and its rowdy home crowd Saturday night to secure its first NCAA tournament win in program history.

"It means a lot. I think not only does it help our program, it helps our entire athletic department and our university," head coach Jose Fernandez said.

Inga Orekhova hit five 3-pointers and finished with 20 points to help the Bulls advance to Monday night's second-round test against second-seeded Cal back at the United Spirit Center.

Orekhova's final 3-pointer tied the game at 66 with 1:09 remaining.

"I had the mentality that this has to go in," Orekhova said.

Andrell Smith heated up in the second half to finish with 13 points and USF got stellar contributions from its freshmen. Guard Courtney Williams scored 12 points and Alisia Jenkins' late free throws got her up to 10 points. Jenkins made both of her free throw attempts with four seconds remaining and her final shot sealed the win for the Bulls. USF led by seven points with less than eight minutes to go before the Lady Raiders made their final charge.

Fernandez said a big key to victory would be controlling play in the paint and the Bulls delivered. Jenkins posted a team-high eight rebounds as USF finished with a 45-40 edge on the glass. Akila McDonald and Andrea Smith added seven rebounds apiece and helped the Bulls finish with a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint.

"It shows the type of team that we have and the type of character we have. Different girls stepped up," Fernandez said.

 

 

NCAA says our game's at 9:30 PM Eastern

 

http://www.ncaa.com/scoreboards/basketball-women/d1/2013/03/25

 

 

GO VOTE - STAMPEDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

http://www.ncaa.com/game/basketball-women/d1/2013/03/25/south-fla-california#preview

[BullDoug]

very happy the win.  Our Bulls played well but I think they had some referee assistance.  TXTech's Baker fouled out with two mystery fouls 4 &5 fouls.  Just saying.  Kinda funny it happened on Tech's court.  Looking forward to the game vs CA on Monday.

[bull-71]

From my sources the ESPN feed was handled by the same guy that got fired in New Orleams (maintenance of the lighting/power distribution system at the Super Bowl).

[Brad]

I just posted the ESPN Post game statement elsewhere, but will post it here too:

 

 

POSTGAME STATEMENT

 

MARCH 23, 2013

FIRST ROUND, LUBBOCK, TEXAS

 

 

Regarding the power failure by ESPN production truck at the end of South Florida’s 71-70 win over Texas Tech in the NCAA Women’s Basketball First-Round at United Spirit Arena.

 

Joint statement from ESPN Producer Brett Wilensky, Blayne Beal (NCAA Lubbock Media Coordinator) and United Spirit Arena management:

“The ESPN production truck suffered a complete power loss due to a blown fuse.  The facility had ample power supply, however, this was a technical issue beyond control.  Power was down apporoximately 20 minutes but the game had been decided by the time power was restored.  ESPN talent called into Bristol and did play-by-play of the end of the game by telephone in order to provide fans coverage of the exciting finish.  Every intention will be made to get in-house footage to Bristol for highlights tonight on multiple ESPN platforms.  Monday’s second round game featuring California and South Florida will not be affected.

[Brad]

... and here are some postgame quotes from Jose Fernandez and South Florida team:

 

 

Jose Fernandez, South Florida Head Coach:

 

General statement

 

“First of all, I want to congratulate Coach Curry and Texas Tech for a wonderful year that her team had. I thought this game was just a great game for women’s basketball. For everybody watching it here in the arena and watching it on ESPN, but I thought our kids really executed down the stretch and really resolved, and they stayed together and I am very proud of this group.”

 

On how gratifying this is to get his first NCAA Tournament win with South Florida after all the years he has put in

 

“It means a lot. I am very fortunate to be at a place for 13 years. There are not many coaches that have that opportunity. President (Judy) Genshaft and our athletic director Doug Woolard have given me a tremendous opportunity to coach at the University of South Florida. We’ve been on the wrong side of that bubble three times where our name doesn’t come up on selection day and you know our program has been in the Big East eight years and seven of those years we went to postseason play. It means a lot, it means a lot. And not only does it help our program, it helps the entire athletic department and our university.”

 

On the confidence the girls had to step up and make the free throws at the end of the game

 

“If you don’t put yourselves in those types of positions in practice and playing four minutes at a time and simulating those positions, when they get into the game they’re not going to be able to execute outside of timeouts or side out of bounds or playing through a bad run. We work on a lot of those game situations in practice and I think it showed our kids that we’re never rattled down the stretch and that’s a credit to them.”

 

On how indicative playing as a team and having players come off the bench for them like they did tonight has been for them all season long

 

“Andrea Smith is a very good basketball player, she’s first team All-Big East. We’re very fortunate that we have a freshman in the likes of Courtney Williams that came in and gave us some unbelievable minutes. Andrell Smith was in foul trouble in the first half and we played nine, 10 guys, I think in the first half. It shows the type of team we have and the type of character that we have so many different guys step up.”

 

 

 

On prepping for No. 2 seed Cal and how much sleep he will get tonight

 

“This past week, we did a lot of work on all three teams. But, you’re absolutely correct, now we’ll get back, our kids will enjoy it, and we’ll get in the conference room and watch a lot of tape and get ready.”

 

 

Inga Orekhova - Guard

 

On shooting well

 

“I came in the game with the attitude ‘we have to win,’ so it’s like if I don’t shoot the ball well when I go in, so when it came down to it, coach Hernandez ran the play for me and I was coming off the screen about to shoot the three, it had to go in, so I had the mentality ‘it has to go in.’”

 

On how big is basketball in Ukraine

 

“Well I left when I was two, and moved to Austria but as far as I remember, it’s really big. When I graduate I want to go play pro over there so it’s pretty big.”

 

On how big is basketball in Austria

 

“Well not as big, it’s mostly about soccer, not basketball.”

 

Andrell Smith - Guard

 

On thoughts of scoring free throws during a hostile crowd

 

“Really that we have been here before, the coach and staff put confidence in to me, and told me we had been here before, no pressure, and you can do this. I believed in myself and my teammates believed in myself so I knew I could do it”

 

On the team playing on a non-neutral floor

 

“I think that we played with a crowd like this, this crowd was huge. It was very loud but we knew to stay together coming into this game and we knew we would hit adversity, but we knew at the end of the day we had to stay together as a team and that’s what we did today.”

 

On scoring seven-straight points

 

“I just came off my teammates intensity and I just wanted to pick up my intensity for my teammates because I picked up two quick fouls in the first half and I was upset at myself but my teammates gave me that confidence to come right back so I knew I had to do what I do best, and that’s attacking and playing hard.”

 

On getting South Florida’s first win in the NCAA Tournament in school history

 

“It feels good because, we are a close team that plays hard and works very hard. We have a great coaching staff and a great head coach. So it feels good to get this one for him.”

 

[charsibb]

Wonder if the TT fans will come out and support USF, support Cal, or stay home.

 

I'd guess they'd support us, since they would prefer to have lost to the ultimate champion (see what I did there?!?!) rather than lost to the team that lost to Cal...

 

Go Bulls!