Senior forward L’or Mputu led all scorers with a career-best 16-point outing as South Florida women’s basketball (1-0) collected a, 87-44, season-opening victory against Bethune-Cookman (0-1) on Monday night in the Yuengling Center.
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Redshirt senior guard Romi Levy (14 points, eight rebounds), graduate guard Sammie Puisis (13 points), and freshman guard Raina Tomasicka (11 points) joined Mputu and rounded out the USF performers in double figures.
Senior forward Chanelle McDonald led the Wildcats with 10 points and freshman guard Janessa Kelly paced on the glass with five boards.
HOW THE GAME WAS DECIDED
South Florida used a 14-point unanswered scoring run which spanned from the last 3 minutes of the second frame and into the beginning of the third stanza. Within the stretch freshman guard Amy Thompson had six points on a pair of triples, and Mama Dembele added four points. USF then led BCU 49-18 with 7:48 to play in the third quarter.
The Green and Gold went on to cement its lead even further in the final three minutes of action, as an 11-6 run gave USF a 44-point advantage, its largest of the night. Puisis had seven points and Tomasicka had four to account for the 11-point scoring spurt to close out the win.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- With the victory, Head Coach Jose Fernandez is now tied with Geno Auriemma (UConn) for total wins (252) as a member of The American. Fernandez is already the owner of the all-time conference wins record in The American with 132.
- South Florida has won its 10th straight showdown with Bethune-Cookman and the Bulls continue to hold an 11-2 advantage in the all-time series.
- USF has captured its 11th consecutive season-opening victory. The Green and Gold are now 36-17 in lid lifters.
- Tomasicka (11 points) and Thompson (6 points) both scored their first career points.
- Graduate guard Mama Dembele scored eight points and eight assists, just two shy of a double-double performance in her debut for the Bulls.
- Mputu led all scorers with a career-best 16-point outing.
- The Bulls dished out 22 assists the most assists and a game since recording 21 assists against SMU in December 2023.
- Puisis (13 points) saw her first action since December of 2023.
TICKETS
Fans can purchase women’s basketball tickets by calling 1-800-GoBulls or at USFBullsTix.com.
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South Florida women’s basketball has made 18 postseason tournament appearances and had nine NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez‘s 24 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided the Bulls to 11 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2008-09 WNIT championship, has won over 450 career games, and is the all-time wins leader in the American Athletic Conference.
