Elisa Pinzan nets a team-high 15 points in front of the fourth largest home crowd to see a USF women’s basketball game.
Game Details
No. 5/6 UConn 67, USF 47
USF (15-10, 7-4 in AAC), UConn (21-3, 11-0 in AAC)
Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020 | 2 p.m. | ESPN3/SNY
Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
NEW ORLEANS (Feb. 16, 2020) (AP) – South Florida’s Eliza Pinzan scored a team-high 15 points, however, Megan Walker scored 21 points and Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 20 Sunday to help No. 5 UConn shrug off a slow start to beat South Florida 67-47 and remain unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference.
The two teams played in front of a crowd of 6,044 at the Yuengling Center, the fourth largest attendance for a USF women’s basketball home game.
The Huskies (21-3, 11-0) trailed by four at halftime, took the lead for good early in the third quarter and broke the game open by beginning the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run and holding USF (15-10, 7-4) to one field goal during a nine-minute stretch.
The Bulls made five of six 3-pointers in the opening quarter, and led 29-25 at halftime, after UConn failed to hold the momentum after wiping out an eight-point deficit and wasting an opportunity to take the lead when Anna Makurat missed a layup on a fast break.
The Bulls have never beaten the Huskies, who are 113-0 against AAC teams during the regular season and 18-0 in the league’s postseason tournament. USF’s chances gradually slipped away Sunday because of poor shooting. After going 5 for 6 on 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes, they missed seven of eight over the last three quarters.
The Bulls finished the game shooting 32.1% from the field and 33.3% from behind the 3-point arc.
Pinzan (Murrano, Italy) also finished the game with four assists in 40 minutes of play. Bethy Mununga (Zellik, Belgium) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
Score By Quarters
1 2 3 4 F
USF 19 10 12 6 47
No. 5/6 UConn 13 12 21 21 67
Notable
- Today’s starters for the Bulls were: G Elisa Pinzan (Murano, Italy), G Elena Tsineke (Thessaloniki, Greece), F Shae Leverett (Rincon, Ga.), W Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) and F Bethy Mununga (Zellik, Belgium) … The Bulls are 2-1 with this lineup.
- Sunday’s attendance of 6,044 against UConn marks the fourth largest home crowd to see a USF women’s basketball game … Below are the top five home attendances in USF women’s basketball history:
- 1. 6,659 1/6/18 UConn
- 2. 6,634 2/27/16 UConn
- 3. 6,615 2/16/14 UConn
- 4. 6,044 2/16/20 UConn
- 5. 5,948 2/27/17 UConn
- USF outrebounded UConn, 37-34, which marks the 24th time in 25 games that the Bulls have outrebounded their opponent.
- Tamara Henshaw grabbed three rebounds against UConn and now has 856 for her career … She is currently seventh all-time in school history.
- Henshaw played in her 126th career game on Sunday against UConn, which surpasses Tiffany Conner (2009-13) and Jessica Dickson (2003-07) in seventh all-time in school history in games played, and is currently four shy of equaling Akila McDonald (2010-14) for sixth.
- Bethy Mununga’s 10 rebounds marked her 12th career double-figure rebounding performance and her second straight.
Up Next
The Bulls now hit the road for a two-game road stretch at UCF on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. (ESPN3) and then at Memphis on Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. (ESPN3). USF closes out the month of February at home against East Carolina on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. (ADN) and then SMU on Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. (BullsVision).
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 –
