Pinzan named Most Improved and Alvarez Co-Sixth Player of the Year;
Mununga, Tsineke, Pinzan, and Harvey all tabbed All-Conference
IRVING, Texas (March 7, 2021) – On the heels of winning its first conference regular-season title in program history, the University of South Florida women’s basketball team made another statement when the American Athletic Conference announced its postseason award winners, and six Bulls – including head coach Jose Fernandez – were honored following a vote by the league’s head coaches.
Fernandez was named the AAC Coach of the Year, while Elisa Pinzan was tabbed the league’s Most Improved Player. Maria Alvarez was chosen as the Co-Sixth Player of the Year.
Also, Bethy Mununga and Elena Tsineke were named to The American All-Conference First Team, Pinzan was a Second Team selection and Sydni Harvey earned Third Team honors.
Fernandez, who earned the AAC Coach of the Year award for the second time in his career (2018), and is also a semifinalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year, has guided the Bulls to a 15-3 overall record and a 13-2 mark in The American this season. He also led the Green and Gold to the program’s first American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
During the 2020-21 campaign, South Florida posted a program-record 13-game win streak – the seventh-longest in the nation at the time – and won a program-best 12 consecutive AAC games. USF also achieved the highest ranking in program history, checking in at No. 12 in the Feb. 15 Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
Pinzan, a junior guard, has established herself as one of the top point guards in the nation during the 2020-21 campaign, averaging 9.6 points per game and 7.0 assists per outing. Her assist average is tops in The American and second in the nation through the end of the regular season. In addition, her 3.32 assist/turnover ratio ranks first in the league and sixth nationally, and her 126 assists on the year lead the AAC and stand 12th in the nation.
Pinzan has handed out seven or more assists 10 times this season, including 11 at Cincinnati and a career-high 14 against Houston.
Alvarez, a sophomore guard, has played in 16 of USF’s 18 games this season while coming off the bench in 15 of those outings. She is averaging 7.8 points per game, 1.8 rebounds per outing, and just under one assist per game. Alvarez has scored in double figures in four games – including 18 points against Baylor and a career-high 23 against Houston – and her 39.0 percent shooting average from behind the three-point arc is third in The American.
Mununga, a senior forward, earns first-team honors after proving to be among the top power forwards in the country, averaging a double-double with 11.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. Her rebounding average is first in the AAC and fourth in the nation. She is also pulling down 4.2 offensive rebounds per contest, which is tops in The American and 13th in the nation.
Mununga has been a double-double machine, recording 11 of her 20-career double-doubles this season. The 11 this year rank first in the American and 12th in Division I. Of the 11 double-double performances, two of them were 20-rebound games, including a 10-point, 20-rebound performance at Temple and a career night with 23 points and 21 rebounds against East Carolina. Mununga has scored in double figures 12 times this season and has grabbed double-digit rebounds 14 times.
Tsineke, the AAC Rookie of the Year and third-team selection last year, earned first-team honors this year. The sophomore guard leads the Bulls in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. She has poured in double figures in 10 of the 16 games she has played, including a career-high 31 points against Wichita State and 24 points at Houston.
Tsineke is shooting just under 40 percent from the field and is hitting 85.0 percent of her shots from the charity stripe. She has shot better than 50 percent from the field five times, including 68.8 percent (11-for-16) from the floor in her 23-point effort against the Shockers.
Harvey, a junior guard, is tied for second on the team in scoring and is averaging 11.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game on the year. She has netted double-digits in 11 games this season, including a 23-point performance against Cincinnati in the Yuengling Center and 21 points against the Bearcats on the road. In addition, she had 16 points against Tulane.
Harvey has shot better than 40.0 percent in six games, including 50.0 percent from the floor against the Green Wave, a night she also hit a season-high 60.0 percent of her shots from behind the three-point arc.
The 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Tournament will take place March 8-11 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
This season’s honorees will lead the Bulls (15-3, 13-2 AAC) into their AAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN+) against the winner of the first-round game between eighth-seeded Tulsa and ninth-seeded Wichita State. The winner of the quarterfinal game will advance to the semifinals on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+). The American championship game is slated for Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
The Bulls are 12-7 all-time in the AAC Tournament and have advanced to at least the semifinal round in each of the previous seven tournaments and to the championship game four times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
Below is the complete 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference tournament schedule.
First Round – Monday, March 8
Game 1 (ESPN+) No. 9 Wichita State vs. No. 8 Tulsa 2:30 p.m. ET
Game 2 (ESPN+) No. 10 Memphis vs. No. 7 Cincinnati 5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 9
Game 3 (ESPN+) No. 5 Temple vs. No. 4 Tulane Noon ET (ESPN+)
Game 4 (ESPN+) 8/9 winner vs. No. 1 USF 3 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Game 5 (ESPN+) 7/10 winner vs. No. 2 UCF 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Game 6 (ESPN+) No. 6 East Carolina vs. No. 3 Houston 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Semifinals – Wednesday, March 10
Game 7 (ESPN+) Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner 5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Game 8 (ESPN+) Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Championship – Thursday, March 11
Game 9 (ESPNU) Semifinal winners 10 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
All times listed here are Eastern time
About USF Women’s Basketball
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USF has 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 conference regular-season title, and posted their highest ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, reaching as high as No. 12.
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 380 games. For his efforts on the sideline during the 2020-21 season, Fernandez has been named a semifinalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award.
– #GoBulls –
