Mununga averaged 17.0 ppg during the week, and also logged the eighth 20-20 performance in program history.
TAMPA (Jan. 4, 2021) – University of South Florida women’s basketball standout Bethy Mununga has been named the American Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Week for the week ending Jan. 3, the conference announced Monday. The honor marks Mununga’s first AAC Player of the Week award of her career.
A senior forward from Zellik, Belgium, Mununga helped the No. 18 Bulls (7-1, 4-0 in AAC) to a pair of wins last week, a 65-35 rout of Tulsa on Dec. 30, and a 71-58 victory over East Carolina on Jan. 2, in which Mununga logged a career performance. Mununga averaged 17.0 points per game and 14.0 rebounds per outing in the two games, to go along with 1.5 steals per game. In addition, she shot 66.7 percent 12-for-18) from the field and was 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line.
Mununga ended the 2020 calendar year with an 11-point, seven-rebound effort against the Golden Hurricane, shooting 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from the field. She then tipped 2021 off in impressive fashion with a career day against the Pirates. Mununga scored a career high 23 points and grabbed a career best 21 rebounds against ECU, marking the program’s eighth 20-20 game. It was her 13th career double-double at USF, and her fourth of the season. Mununga also became the 14th player in program history to grab 20 or more rebounds, and her total is tied for the fourth most in a single game in school history, and tied for the fifth most in American Athletic Conference history.
On the year, Mununga is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.8 points per game, and paces the team on the glass, grabbing 12.0 rebounds per outing. Through games of Jan. 3, Mununga is first in The American, and seventh nationally in total rebounds (96), and tops in the conference, and fifth nationally in rebounds per game.
USF now returns to the Yuengling Center on Wednesday, Jan. 6 when they play host to Wichita State at 7 p.m. (ESPN+). The Bulls will close out what has turned into an unexpected three-game home stand, on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m., when Houston visits the Yuengling Center. The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 19, however was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Cougars’ program.
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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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