The Bulls move to 2-0 in The American behind 20 points from Sydni Harvey, 17 from Kristyna Brabencova.
Game Details
USF 68, Tulsa 52
USF (10-6, 2-0 AAC), Tulsa (5-11, 0-3 AAC)
Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020 | 6 p.m. ET | CBS Sports Network
Tulsa, Okla. | Donald W. Reynolds Center
TULSA, Okla. (Jan. 12, 2020) – The University of South Florida women’s basketball team managed to put a less than perfect travel day on Saturday behind them and pulled out a hard fought 68-52 win over Tulsa on Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The win, the Bulls’ first on the road this season, improved the Green and Gold to 10-6 overall and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference. The Golden Hurricane fell to 5-11 on the year and 0-3 in The American.
The Bulls, who endured nearly a 12-hour day of travel, between flight delays, weather and a four-hour bus ride to Tulsa, got a game-high 20 points from Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) and 17 points from Kristyna Brabencova (Brno, Czech Republic).
Harvey recorded a career high for three-point shots made in a game with six on 6-for-7 shooting (85.7 percent) from behind the arc.
USF jumped out to a 7-0 lead and then closed out the first quarter on a 12-2 run to take command of the game early on. After leading at the end of 10 minutes, 19-9, the Bulls took an 18-point lead into the locker room at the intermission, 38-19, behind Harvey’s 15 first-half points and 50 percent shooting from the field, which included 53.8 percent from behind the arc. USF also stepped up defensively, holding the Golden Hurricane to just 23.3 percent shooting from the field in the first half.
After USF led by as many as 20 points, 36-16, with just over two minutes left in the first half, Tulsa battled its way back into the game, closing out the third quarter on a 10-0 run to cut the Bulls’ lead to 47-39. The Golden Hurricane then carried that over into the final quarter, getting the USF lead to as few as four points, 51-47, with 6:10 left in the game. That was as close as Tulsa got, as USF scored 17 of the final 22 points in the game. The Bulls went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line over the final three-plus minutes.
Score By Quarters
1 2 3 4 F
USF 19 19 9 21 68
Tulsa 9 10 20 13 52
Notable
- Today’s starters for the Bulls were: G Sydni Harvey, G Elena Tsineke (Thessaloniki, Greece), F Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.), W Kristyna Brabencova and F Bethy Mununga (Zellik, Belgium) … The Bulls are 1-0 with this lineup.
- Eliza Pinzan (Murano, Italy) played in her first game since suffering a high ankle sprain against Alabama State on Dec. 6 … Pinzan finished the game with eight points and seven assists.
- The Bulls’ win over Tulsa improved them to 7-0 all-time against the Golden Hurricane.
- Sydni Harvey’s 20-point performance marked her fourth 20-plus point game of her career.
- With Kristyna Brabencova’s 17 points, she has scored in double figures in five of her last seven games after netting double digits in one of the first nine.
- Tamara Henshaw’s grabbed three rebounds against Tulsa and is now just 17 rebounds shy of joining Nalini Miller (2003-07) in seventh all-time with 823.
- Henshaw played in her 117th career game on Sunday at Tulsa … She is in sole possession of 13th all-time in career games played … She is now three games shy of tying Rachel Sheats (2003-07) and Porche Grant (2006-09, 10-11) for 11th all-time in school history with 120.
Up Next
USF closes out the back-to-back road tilts at Temple on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. The Bulls will return to the Yuengling Center on Jan. 19, when they face UCF in the first of two editions of the War on I-4. Tip-off against the Knights is slated for 3 p.m. (ESPN2).
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 –
