Pehadzic leads USF again with 16 points, Mununga drops in a career-high 12 points.
USF (2-0), Texas (0-1)
Friday, Nov. 8, 2019 | 7 p.m.
Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA (Nov. 8, 2019) – Poised from the opening tip, USF women’s basketball led for nearly 31 minutes and withstood a late rally to take down No. 15/15 Texas, 64-57, before an electric crowd of 2,289 at the Yuengling Center on Friday night.
Clinging to a two-point advantage, USF (2-0) was clutch in the final 20 seconds, going 7-for-8 from the free throw line to seal the program’s first win over a ranked opponent since an 84-65 home victory over No. 13/13 Ohio State on Feb. 11, 2018.
Redshirt junior wing Enna Pehadzic (Horsens, Denmark) led the way again with a team-high 16 points after putting the Bulls ahead for good with a three-pointer inside four minutes to play. Pehadzic closed the game with three free throws in the final seven seconds, as USF defeated Texas (0-1) for the first time in two meetings.
Elisa Pinzan extended the USF lead to two with 1:24 to play and made all four of her free throw attempts with 20 and 18 seconds remaining. The sophomore point guard from Murano, Italy finished with nine points and a game-high five assists.
Bethy Mununga led the fourth-quarter charge with eight points along with two big blocks. The junior forward from Zellik, Belguim finished with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds and three blocks after posting a double-double in her USF debut on Tuesday.
Freshman guard Maria Alvarez (Bal Harbour, Fla.) chipped in with eight points. Senior Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) scored all six of her points in the second half and grabbed four rebounds to help USF finish with a 34-31 edge on the glass.
USF headed into the halftime break with a 24-19 advantage after seven different Bulls scored. The home team made things happen right away in the marquee matchup while jumping out to a 13-7 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The Bulls grabbed the momentum with an 8-0 run highlighted by a go-ahead, reverse layup from Kristyna Brabencova (Brno, Czech Republic) midway through the period. Mununga scored four points during the key sequence before Alvarez’s smooth jumper spotted USF a 10-5 advantage.
USF closed the quarter on an 11-2 run and Alvarez’s late three-pointer put the exclamation mark on an opening statement by the Bulls on both ends of the floor. Texas went 3-for-13 from the field in the first quarter (21.3 percent), committed six turnovers and scored just two points in the final 7 minutes, 47 seconds. The Bulls scored 19 points off 17 Texas turnovers in the game.
Texas used an 8-0 run of its own to tie things up in the second quarter, but Shae Leverett’slayup put the Bulls back ahead, 17-15, with 4:28 to go before halftime. Pehadzic’s three-pointer with 1:36 remaining broke up another tie and the White-Out game crowd roared as USF headed into the locker room on a 5-0 run.
USF led by as many as seven in the third quarter and took a four-point advantage into what turned out to be a thrilling final period. Powered by a 9-2 run, Texas held a three-point lead with 5:45 to play but missed four of its five field goal attempts in the final 2:11 while Mununga blocked two shots during the span.
Score By Quarters
1 2 3 4 F
USF 13 11 18 22 64
Texas 7 12 19 19 57
Key Stats
34-31 – USF’s winning rebounding margin after the Bulls grabbed four of their 12 total offensive rebounds in the final quarter.
30:56 – The amount of time the Bulls led Texas.
13-for-19 – USF went 13-for-19 on free throw attempts, including a 7-for-8 performance in the pivotal final 20 seconds.
22 – USF’s point total in the fourth quarter, its best scoring period of the game, which helped the Bulls pull out the huge victory.
Quotable
Click this link to see postgame press conference.
Notable
- USF defeated a ranked opponent for the first time since an 84-65 victory over No. 13 Ohio State on Feb. 11, 2018
- USF improved to 2-0 for the sixth straight season. The Bulls are now 1-1 in their all-time series with Texas that began in 2010.
- The Bulls headed into the first week of the season receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today/WBCA Coaches Top 25 polls.
Up Next
USF continues a four-game homestand with a test against Howard on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. It will be International Night at the Yuengling Center, with all fans receiving free USF basketball schedule magnets and pom-poms when they enter the building. Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
– #GoBulls –
About USF Women’s Basketball
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USF notched its eighth consecutive 19-win season and eighth straight postseason appearance in 2018-19. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in Enna Pehadzic and Sydni Harvey.
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 19 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.
