Elena Tsineke and Sydni Harvey lead the way with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Bethy Mununga hauls down 18 rebounds.
Game Details
No. 21/22 USF 63, UTRGV 56
USF (1-0), UTRGV (0-1)
Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021 | 8 p.m. | ESPN+
Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
TAMPA (AP) (Nov. 9, 2021) — Elena Tsineke scored 18 points and No. 21 South Florida held off UT Rio Grande Valley 63-56 in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday night.
Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) added 13 points for the Bulls with Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (Nkongsamba, Cameroon) adding 10 and Bethy Mununga (Zellik, Belgium) pulling down 18 rebounds and scoring nine points. Mununga’s 18 rebounds tied the third most in her career with the Bulls and marked her 36th career double-figure rebounding game.
Taylor Muff scored 15 points for the Vaqueros.
On a night when the women’s basketball program raised the 2021 American Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament championship banners, USF scored the first 10 points and sprinted to a 16-3 lead. Harvey scored eight points with a pair of 3-pointers and Tsineke scored six. A Tsineke jumper early in the second quarter made it 28-14.
An 8-0 run in the fourth quarter put USF ahead 63-50 with 4:23 remaining.
USF shot 33 percent (22-for-67) for the game while UTRGV was 38.5 (20-for-52) percent. The Vaqueros hurt their cause with 23 turnovers which led to 19 points for USF.
USF athletics communications contributed to this story.
Key Stat(s)
57.1 percent – South Florida was fortunate to get off to a hot start shooting 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from the field in the first quarter, including a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the three-point arc. The Bulls led at the end of 10 minutes, 23-12.
23-19 – The Bulls forced UTRGV into 23 turnovers on the night, leading to 19 points.
Notable
- Tuesday’s starters for the Bulls were: G Elisa Pinzan, G Sydni Harvey, W Elena Tsineke, F Shae Leverett, and F Bethy Mununga … The Bulls are 1-0 with this lineup.
- The meeting with UTRGV was the first in the series, with the Bulls now leading 1-0.
- USF improves to 33-17 all-time in season openers … In addition, the Bulls have won eight straight season openers, are 10-3 in their last 13, and 18-5 in lid lifters over the past 23 years.
- The win over the Vaqueros marked USF head coach Jose Fernandez’s 393rd of his career, seven shy of 400 … In his 22nd year as head coach of the Bulls, Fernandez’s career coaching record is 393-276.
- Shae Leverett continues to move up the school’s career rebounding chart … Against UTRGV, Leverett’s five rebounds against the Vaqueros give her 682, 12th on USF’s career rebounding list.
- Bethy Mununga’s 18 rebounds raise her to 607 for her career, 18th on the school’s all-time list.
- Elena Tsineke’s 18 points mark her 33rd career double-figure scoring game.
Up Next
USF returns home to the Yuengling Center to Alabama State on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) on Courtney Williams Night. The USF athletics department and women’s basketball program will honor the USF great, and WNBA All-Star, prior to the game. Williams will be inducted into the USF Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday.
About USF Women’s Basketball
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USF recorded its best season in program history during the 2020-21 campaign, all while navigating the unpredictable COVID-19 landscape. In doing so, the Bulls won their first-ever American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and posted their highest ranking in the Associated Press Top25 poll – reaching as high as No. 12 – and made their ninth straight postseason appearance, and sixth NCAA appearance in the last 10 years.
USF has made 16 postseason tournament appearances and had seven NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 21 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 nearly 400 career games. For his efforts on the sideline during the 2020-21 season, Fernandez was named a finalist for the WBCA and semifinalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Awards. He was also tabbed the 2021 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
The Bulls posted a 19-4 record and had five players, during the 2020-21 campaign, the Bulls had five players recognized by The American for impressive seasons, including Elisa Pinzan (Most Improved Player, All-Conference Second Team), Maria Alvarez (Co-Sixth Player of the Year), Bethy Mununga (All-Conference First Team), Elena Tsineke (All-Conference First Team), and Sydni Harvey (All-Conference Third Team).
In addition, Harvey was named the American Athletic Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player and to the All-Tournament Team, while Mununga and Tsineke were also All-Tournament selections.
– #GoBulls –
