Bulls win 18th-straight over Tulane behind 12 points apiece from Sydni Harvey, Elisa Pinzan, and Maria Alvarez.
Game Details
(1) No. 20 South Florida 51, (4) Tulane 47
South Florida (17-3), Tulane (17-8)
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | 5:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+
American Athletic Conference Semifinals
Fort Worth, Texas | Dickies Arena
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) (March 10, 2021) — Elisa Pinzan made six free throws in the final 23 seconds and 20th-ranked South Florida went 8 for 8 from the line in the last minute to hold off fourth-seeded Tulane in the semifinals of the American Athletic Association tournament on Wednesday at Dickies Arena.
Maria Alvarez had three of her four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the last with 1:50 to play that put the Bulls on top 43-41.
Tulane made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:27 to go, the foul sidelining USF’s Bethy Mununga, who had eight points and 18 rebounds.
But Sydni Harvey was fouled and her two free throws at 53.4 pushed the USF lead to three. Following a Green Wave miss, Pinzan took over to keep the lead at two possessions.
Pinzan, Alvarez, and Harvey all had 12 points for South Florida (17-3), which faces the winner of Houston-UCF in the championship game on Thursday. The Bulls’ record matches the 2016-17 team for the best 20-game mark in school history.
The Green and Gold advance to their fifth American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game in their eight years in the league.
JerKaila Jordan scored 22 points, her ninth 20-plus game, to lead the Green Wave (17-8), which has lost 18 straight to the Bulls. Krystal Freeman added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
USF shot 21.9% (7 of 32) with 12 turnovers to trailed 23-17 at the half and was down 10 points until a Harvey 3 and a Mununga jumper cut the deficit to 33-28 after three quarters.
USF athletics communications contributed to this story.
Notable
- USF’s win on Wednesday advances the Bulls to the American Athletic Conference title game for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
- South Florida’s win improves the Bulls’ record in the American Athletic Conference Tournament to 14-7 all-time.
- The Bulls’ win over Tulane improves their record against the Green Wave to 27-19 … The victory also marks the 18th-straight against Tulane.
- Also, Mununga’s 18 rebounds marked her 16th double-figure rebounding game of the season and the 33rd of her career … It was also the third most of her career.
Up Next
USF advances to the American Athletic Conference Championship game where it will face the winner of the semifinal game between the two-seed UCF and three-seed Houston on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
About USF Women’s Basketball
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USF notched its ninth consecutive 19-win season and was poised for its ninth straight postseason appearance in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the end of the college basketball season. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in Elena Tsineke and Elisa Pinzan. Tsineke was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, in addition to The American All-Freshman Team and Third Team All-Conference; while Pinzan was named a Third Team All-Conference selection.
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 20 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.
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