The Bulls open the season on Tuesday against Jacksonville at the Yuengling Center
SEASON-OPENING MATCHUP: USF vs. Jacksonville
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, Nov. 5/5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Yuengling Center, Tampa
LISTEN: Bulls Unlimited
FOLLOW: Live stats | Twitter @USFWBB
TICKETS: USFBullsTix.com
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, NOV. 4, 2019 – With tons of talent on its roster, USF women’s basketball has great expectations for the 2019-20 season heading into Tuesday’s home opener against Jacksonville.
“We want to go to the NCAA postseason. We want to go play for a conference championship,” said junior wing Enna Pehadzic. “… I feel like we have the right pieces to go get what we want.”
Jose Fernandez definitely agrees heading into his 20th season as head coach of a program that’s become synonymous with the postseason. USF has played in either the NCAA tournament or WNIT in 15 of the past 16 seasons and competed for an AAC title in four the past five league tournament championships.
“We’re looking forward to this season,” Fernandez said. “The big thing is if we stay healthy, we’ve got a really, really good basketball team.”
Despite injuries piling up last season, USF still won 19 games and played in the WNIT second round. Several returning players gained valuable and extensive experience, like Pehadzic(Denmark), point guards Elisa Pinzan (Italy), Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.), center ShaeLeverett (Rincon, Ga.) and wing Luize Septe (Latvia).
“They were ready when an opportunity came,” Fernandez said. “You can’t get ready when an opportunity comes. That just shows the depth of our team and how we’ve recruited.”
For their standout efforts, Pehadzic earned a spot on the all-conference second team as aredshirt sophomore and Harvey was named to the AAC All-Freshman Team. Regardless of accolades, the Bulls as a whole became a better team dealing with adversity in 2018-19.
“It’s not what we expected, but it was a great life lesson for our players,” Fernandez said.
With senior forward Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) providing leadership and high-impact sophomore center Beatriz Jordao (Portugal) now healthy, USF looks to return to the NCAA tournament after an impressive run in “The Big Dance” from 2015-18.
This season, the Bulls eye their seventh overall NCAA tourney trip and they’ll utilize the ability of numerous young but already proven players to get there.
Five freshmen have played in their national team’s system or for notable club teams in their countries. Promising talent includes guards Maria Alvarez (Colombia), Elena Tsineke (Greece) and Mihaela Lazic (Croatia) along with wings Kristyna Brabencova (Czech Republic), Cristina Bermejo (Spain). The Bulls also brought in NJCAA All-American forward Bethy Mununga(Belgium) while junior forward Silvia Serrat (Spain) is eager to make an impact after missing the past two seasons.
“This is as balanced of a team as we’ve ever had. I think this team is more built for having four, five (players) in double figures and 10 (players) contributing, night-in and night-out,” Fernandez said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to with this team.”
Others think very highly of the 2019-20 Bulls, who checked in at No. 2 in the AAC Preseason Poll.
“That just shows you the amount of respect coaches and teams have for us,” Pehadzic said.
Bulls Eager to Face Tough Opponents
Fernandez’s Bulls will be battle tested by the time postseason ball rolls around thanks to a schedule featuring 12 opponents that either played in the NCAA tournament (8) or the WNIT(4) in 2019.
“I knew who we have coming back and I knew who we signed. And I knew who we were gonna get healthy again. That’s why we scheduled the way that we scheduled,” Fernandez said. “You look up and down, we’re gonna be tested in November and December in all sorts of ways to lead us into January and February, to league play.”
USF will take on both teams that played for the national championship – at No. 2 Baylor (Nov. 19), vs. No. 16/14 Notre Dame (Nov. 30) – in the Cancun Challenge. The Bulls also will face two more No. 1 seeds in No. 10/8 Mississippi State (Dec. 19 in Las Vegas) and No. 5/4UConn(Feb. 16, March 2).
On top of all those tests, USF’s schedule includes matchups with four more NCAA tournament teams. The Bulls cap off their first week of competition with a home game against No. 15 Texas (7 p.m. Friday) and will see South Dakota State (RV) and FGCU in Cancun Nov. 28-29. USF and NCAA first-round participant UCF will clash twice in War on I-4 matchups set for Jan. 19 and Feb. 19.
“Coach never puts us in a position that he doesn’t think we can succeed in,” said senior forward Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.). “… We’re just gonna push through this schedule and whatever happens, happens.”
Bulls Bits
- LOTS OF HOME HOOPS EARLY ON: The Yuengling Center is the place to catch five of USF’s first six games of the season. After facing Jacksonville (Tuesday) and Texas (Friday), the Bulls host Howard (Nov. 12) and VCU (Nov. 15) before heading to Texas to take on defending national champion Baylor (Nov. 19). USF finishes up the month with a home game against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Sunday, Nov. 24. Get great deals on season ticket packages and mini plans HERE.
- HISTORY OF SUCCESS: USF’s injury-riddled 2018-19 season snapped the Bulls’ streak of four straight trips to the NCAA tournament. USF has gone to the NCAA tournament six times overall, played in the postseason 15 times and captured the WNITtitle (2009) under the leadership of Jose Fernandez, the winningest basketball coach in Bulls history with 354 victories. USF has won at least 20 games nine different times under Fernandez, including a run of six straight seasons from 2012-13 to 2017-18.
- PEHADZIC HONORED AGAIN: Redshirt junior wing Enna Pehadzic was named to The American’s preseason all-conference second team last month at media day. TheHorsens, Denmark native was an all-conference second team selection last season and averaged 15.4 points in AAC games. Pehadzic led the Bulls with 422 points (12.1 ppg overall) and proved to be up to the task as a starter (23 games). “I work hard in the gym and was prepared for my opportunity to come,” she said.
- PINZAN AT THE POINT: Point guard Elisa Pinzan is primed for a big season after leading the Bulls with 103 assists in 31 games (15 starts) as a freshman and winning theFIBA U20 Women’s European Championships with Italy this summer. “Right now, we have her slated to start day one and Mihaela Lazic is backing her up,” Fernandez said last week. “… Both have a lot of experience and I think they have really embraced what we want to do on both ends of the floor.”
About USF Women’s Basketball
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF women’s basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
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 2009WNIT championship and won more than 350 games.
Follow the team on the Twitter (@USFWBB), Instagram (USFWBB) and Facebook (/USFWomensBasketball).
