Bulls have four players scoring in double figures; turn attention to AAC play and Cincinnati on Sunday.
Game Details
USF 70, Brown 60
USF (8-6), Brown (6-7)
Monday, Dec. 30, 2019 | 5:30 p.m.
Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
TAMPA (Dec. 30, 2019) – The University of South Florida women’s basketball team had four players score in double figures, and two players record double-doubles, as the Bulls pulled out a hard fought 70-60 win over Brown in the final nonconference game of the season on Monday afternoon at the Yuengling Center. The win improves USF to 8-6 on the year while the Bears fall to 6-7 overall.
Elena Tsineke (Thessaloniki, Greece) scored a team-high 17 points, and Bethy Mununga (Zellik, Belgium) and Kristyna Brabencova (Brno, Czech Republic) each tied their career highs with 16 points in the win. Mununga also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds. For Mununga, who returned to the hardwood after missing the last three games due to a pulled hamstring, it marks her sixth career double-double in 11 games played.
Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) fell one-point shy of equaling her career high with a season-best 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds. It was her first double-double of the season and the 11th of her career.
The Bulls found themselves in a dogfight early on in the contest as Brown led by as many as eight points in the first half, and carried a 33-28 lead into the locker room at the break.
USF, however, picked up the defensive intensity in the second half holding the Bears to just 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) shooting from the field, including 4-for-10 (40 percent) from behind the three-point arc, in the final 20 minutes of play after they hit at a 40 percent clip (12-for-30) from the field and 53.3 percent (8-for-15) from three-point range in the first half.
After holding the lead for just over six minutes in the first half, the Bulls regained the lead for good, 36-35, on a breakaway layup by Tsineke with 7:25 left in the third quarter. USF then capped a 10-2 run to start the second half on a rebound put back by Mununga, on the next possession, with just under seven minutes left in the third.
Brown got the lead down to two points, 46-44, just before the end of the third quarter, however that was as close as the Bears got the rest of the game.
Brabencova stepped up for the Bulls offensively in the fourth quarter, pouring in 10 of her 16 points in the final 10 minutes of play.
Score By Quarters
1 2 3 4 F
USF 19 9 23 19 70
BROWN 18 15 14 13 60
Key Stats
40-22.2 – A key factor in the Bulls’ win over Brown was the defensive effort in the second half. The Bears shot 40 percent (12-for-30) from the field in the first half, however, just 22.2 percent (6-for-27) in the second half.
Notable
- Today’s starters for the Bulls were: G Maria Alvarez (Miami, Fla.), G Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.), F Tamara Henshaw, W Kristyna Brabencova and F Bethy Mununga … The Bulls are 1-0 with this lineup.
- USF finished their nonconference home slate undefeated for the third-straight season, and extended their nonconference home winning streak to 21 games.
- Bethy Mununga played in her first game since injuring her hamstring against Alabama State on Dec. 6.
- In addition to Mununga’s double-double, she also tied her career-high with three blocked shots.
- Elena Tsineke’s 17 points – two from tying her career-high – marks the freshman’s seventh double-figure scoring performance in her nine games played with the Bulls.
- Kristyna Brabencova has scored in double figures in three of her last five games after netting double digits in one of the first nine … She is averaging 10.8 points per game over those five games.
- Tamara Henshaw’s 10 rebounds marks her fifth-straight game with double-digit rebounds … She is averaging 12.0 rebounds per game during that five-game stretch.
- In addition, Henshaw’s 10 boards give her 796 for her career, four away from becoming just the eighth player in program history to reach the 800 career-rebound milestone.
- Tamara Henshaw played in her 115th career game on Monday against Brown … Henshaw joined Nalini Miller (2003-07) and Jasmine Wynne (2008-12) in 13th all-time in career games played.
Up Next
The Bulls begin American Athletic Conference play on Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. when Cincinnati visits the Yuengling Center.
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.
– #GoBulls –
