Tsineke and Fankam Mendjiadeu were also unanimous First Team picks; Sammie Puisis was named Newcomer of the Year and Second Team All-Conference, and Carla Brito was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
IRVING, Texas (March 4, 2023) – University of South Florida women’s basketball standout guard Elena Tsineke, forward Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, guard Sammie Puisis, and wing Carla Brito were rewarded for their impressive seasons by the American Athletic Conference when the league’s postseason awards were announced on Sunday.
Tsineke and Fankam Mendjiadeu, the best players in The American all season, were recognized for just that as both were named Co-Players of the Year and were unanimous picks for First Team All-Conference. It marks the first time that the Bulls have had a player(s) named Player of the Year in The American and it’s just the second time in conference history – the first since UConn’s Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson in 2017 – that two have shared the honor.
Tsineke and Fankam Mendjiadeu’s Player of the Year honor is the second in program history and the first since Wanda Guyton was tabbed the Sun Belt Player of the Year at the conclusion of the 1988-89 season.
Puisis was named the conference Newcomer of the Year – another first for South Florida – and was a Second Team selection while Brito was named to the All-Freshman Team.
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Tsineke earned First Team All-Conference honors for the third-straight season after starting her career with the Bulls as The American Rookie of the Year and a Third-Team selection in 2019-20. She came into the season as the preseason choice for Player of the Year and lived up to that honor night after night. The guard from Thessaloniki, Greece leads South Florida and is second in The American in scoring, averaging 18.0 points per game. She has poured in double figures in 28 of the 30 games she has played, including the last six-straight and 26 of the last 27 outings, and fell three points shy of tying her career-high when she netted 28 points in the Bulls’ regular-season finale at Cincinnati on March 1.
Tsineke is shooting 46.5 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent from behind the arc, and is hitting 79.2 percent of her shots from the charity stripe. She has shot 50 percent or better from the field 16 times, including at a 71.4 percent (10-for-14) clip at Cincinnati.
A forward from Nkongsamba, Cameroon, Fankam Mendjiadeu is a First Team selection for the first time in her collegiate career after being named Preseason AAC First Team All-Conference before the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
Fankam Mendjiadeu has been the most dominating post player in The American, and one the most dominating in the nation, all season. She ended the regular season averaging 16.7 points per game, second on the team and third in the conference, and a conference-best 12.5 rebounds per outing, both career-highs. Her total rebounds (388) are tops in the conference and third in the nation while her rebounds per game average are first in The American and fourth in the nation. In addition, she is fourth in the nation in double-doubles with 23.
On the year, Fankam Mendjiadeu is shooting 59.4 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. She has scored in double figures in 28 of 31 games this season, and double-digit boards 25 times. Fankam Mendjiadeu had a career-high 34-point performance against then No. 3/4 Ohio State on Dec. 20 in the San Diego Invitational to go along with 17 rebounds. Earlier in the season she hauled down a career-best 21 rebounds against Georgia Tech on Nov. 25, en route to a tournament record 49 boards in three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort Myers, Fla. She also had 11 rebounds against then No. 22/23 Michigan on Nov. 26 and 17 against No. 23 Villanova on Nov. 27.
Puisis, a transfer from Florida State, has been the top three-point shooter in the nation all season long. A guard from Mason, Ohio, Puisis is averaging a career-best 16.3 points per game good enough for third on the team and fourth in The American. She had scored double-figure points 27 times in 31 games, including a career-high 28 points against Tulane on Jan. 14. She also poured in 27 points against Tulsa on Feb. 22 and 26 points against Alabama on Nov. 16.
Puisis is shooting 40.4 percent from the field, including 40.0 percent from behind the three-point arc, and an impressive 88.9 percent from the free-throw line. She finished the regular-season leading the nation in three-point field goals made (108) and attempted (270), and is second in three-point field goals made per game (3.48). She has recorded a career-high seven three-point shots made in a game three times this season against East Carolina (7-for-14) on Jan. 31 and then against Tulsa (7-for-14) on Feb. 22 and at Cincinnati (7-for-11) on March 1 in the final two games of the regular season.
Brito is the Bulls’ first American Athletic Conference All-Freshman selection since Tsineke in 2020 and earns the honor after averaging 8.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per outing, third and second on the team, respectively. A wing from Las Palmas, Spain, Brito has scored in double digits 12 times this season while getting the start in all 31 games. She poured in a career-high 26 points against New Hampshire on Nov. 22 in addition to her 10 rebounds, the third of three-straight 10-rebound games. Brito surpassed her career-high for rebounds grabbing 11 at Central Florida on Feb. 15 and in the regular-season finale at Cincinnati on March 1.
On the year she is shooting 44.6 percent from the field and is averaging 1.4 assists per game and 1.1 steals per outing.
Top-seeded South Florida, the 2022-23 regular season champions, earned a bye into the American Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals and will face the winner of Monday’s first-round game between ninth-seeded Temple and eighth-seeded Wichita State, on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ ($).
The Bulls finished the regular season with a 26-5 overall record and a 15-1 slate in The American. South Florida’s 26 wins are the second most victories in program history, equaling the 2017-18 team that finished the year 26-8. The Bulls have won 20 or more games 11 times in their 51 seasons, all of them coming under Head Coach Jose Fernandez. In addition, South Florida’s 15th conference win equals equal the most in program history joining the 2014-15 team that finished its second season in The American, 15-3. The Bulls’ 15-1 record this season in the AAC marks the best conference record in program history.
South Florida is 17-8 all-time in the AAC Tournament and has advanced to at least the semifinal round in each of the previous nine tournaments and to the championship game six times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022).
Below is the complete 2023 American Athletic Conference tournament schedule.
Monday, March 6 – First Round
Game 1 (ESPN+) 9 Temple vs. No. 8 Wichita State – 2 p.m.
Game 2 (ESPN+) 10 Central Florida vs. No. 7 Tulsa – 4 p.m.
Game 3 (ESPN+) 11 Cincinnati vs. No. 6 Tulane – 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7 – Quarterfinals
Game 4 (ESPN+) No. 9 Temple/No. 8 Wichita State vs. No. 1 South Florida – 1 p.m.
Game 5 (ESPN+) No. 5 SMU vs. No. 4 Houston – 3 p.m.
Game 6 (ESPN+) No. 10 Central Florida/No. 7 Tulsa vs. No. 2 Memphis – 7 p.m.
Game 7 (ESPN+) No. 11 Cincinnati/No. 6 Tulane vs. No. 3 East Carolina – 9 p.m.
Wednesday, March 8 – Semifinals
Game 8 (ESPN+) Semifinal Game One (Gm. 4 winner vs. Gm. 5 winner) – 5 p.m.
Game 9 (ESPN+) Semifinal Game Two (Gm. 6 winner vs. Gm. 7 winner) – 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 9 – Championship
Game 10 (ESPNU) Championship game – 9 p.m.
All times listed here are Eastern time
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The majority of USF’s regular-season games will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform. The American Athletic Conference and ESPN began a new 12-year television rights agreement which started in 2020-21. Subscriptions for the ESPN+ app are $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services. A step-by-step guide for subscribing to ESPN+ is located here.
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South Florida recorded its 10th 20-win season during the 2021-22 campaign while playing in its sixth American Athletic Conference championship game in its nine years in the conference. The Bulls achieved their highest national ranking of the season when it checked in at No. 13 in the Nov. 30 Associated Press Top 25 Poll, and advanced to their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in the last nine years.
USF has made 17 postseason tournament appearances and had eight NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 22 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to 10 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship, and has won over 400 career games. 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 at the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign.
In 2021-22, the Bulls had three players recognized by The American for impressive seasons, including Elena Tsineke (All-Conference First Team), Bethy Mununga (All-Conference Second Team) and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (All-Conference Second Team).
In addition, Tsineke and Mununga were named to the American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team.
–#GoBulls –
