Tampa, Fla. – Feb. 28, 2025 – South Florida women’s basketball (20-9, 13-3 AAC) welcomes East Carolina (15-13, 9-7 AAC) for Senior Night at the Yuengling Center on Saturday, Mar. 1. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the action will stream on ESPN+ and Bulls Unlimited.
SETTING THE STAGE
The Bulls are winners of nine of their last 10 games and are looking for their fifth sweep of a conference opponent. The Pirates are looking for their sixth road win of the season.
SENIOR NIGHT
The Bulls will honor Ines Piper, Mama Dembele, Romi Levy, and Sammie Puisis with a pregame ceremony on Saturday.
THE SOUTH FLORIDA-EAST CAROLINA SERIES
Saturday is the 24th meeting between the two squads. South Florida leads in the all-time series 16-7. The last clash was a 63-60 Bulls win at East Carolina (Jan. 25, 2025).
BEST OF THE BULLS
The Bulls are led by graduate guard Sammie Puisis (15.3 ppg.) and senior forward L’or Mputu (9.8 ppg.) Puisis is ranked 5th in the nation with 92 total 3-pointers made and 6th nationally in 3FG Made Per Game (3.2 3FGM). Junior forward Carla Brito holds a team best 8.0 rebound average. (6th in the American). Senior forward L’or Mputu has a 7.6 rebound average (7th in the American). The Duo is 2nd the AAC with a combined 15.6 Rebound Average. Graduate guard Mama Dembele is USF’s top assister with 5.4 apg. (24th nationally in APG) (157 total assists ranked 19th nationally). In the latest NCAA Nitty Gritties Report, South Florida is ranked 78 NET SOS, 67 in the NET, and 7 in NET NonCon SOS.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
The Bulls have won nine of their last 10 games. USF has won 15 of its last 18 games. South Florida hasn’t lost more than three games since Dec. 17. South Florida has won at least 19 games in each of the last 14 seasons (including 2024- 25). Only eight other DI schools have done that: Baylor, FGCU, Gonzaga, Louisville, Maryland, South Carolina, South Dakota State, and UConn (Iowa & Stanford could join the list). The Bulls nine nine-straight conference games was their third-longest streak in program history. USF had 11-game winning streaks in conference play in 2022-23 and 2020-21. Mama Dembele has recorded at least six assists and two steals in the last five games. That is tied for the longest streak by any USF player this century (Anedra Gilmore’s run from February 20-March 18, 2004.). Sammie Puisis reached 200 career made threes with USF in her last game against Memphis, the 63rd game of her South Florida career. She is the fastest player in program history to reach that milestone with the Bulls. L’or Mputu has recorded a 63.9 field-goal percentage and 11.5 points per game against conference opponents this season. No USF player this century has finished a single season of conference play shooting at least 60.0 percent from the field while averaging at least 10.0 points per game.
TICKETS
Fans can purchase women’s basketball tickets by calling 1-800-GoBulls or at USFBullsTix.com.
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ABOUT SOUTH FLORIDA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
South Florida women’s basketball has made 18 postseason tournament appearances and had nine NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 25 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided the Bulls to 11 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2008-09 WNIT championship, has won over 450 career games, and is the all-time wins leader in the American Athletic Conference.
– #GoBulls –
