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Leather Named Second Team All-Conference USA
Senior forward Terrence Leather was named to the 2004-05 All-Conference USA Second Team as announced by the league office today. The only player in C-USA to be ranked in the Top Five in both points (third - 17.9 ppg) and rebounding (third - 9.2 rpg) this season, Leather earns his second all-conference honor of his USF career after being named third team All-C-USA last season.

USF's leader in both scoring and rebounding, Leather has registered 10 double-doubles this season (tied for second-best in Conference USA). The 6-9 forward ranks 12th all-time in USF history in career scoring with 1,133 points. Leather became the 16th player in USF history to score 1,000 points, scoring his 1,000th point in the Bulls' 88-68 win over Tulane (Feb. 5). He scored 20-or-more points in 12 contests this season, including a career-high 28 points in 25 minutes of action at Michigan (Dec. 11). Leather enters the Conference USA Tournament riding a string of five-consecutive games with a double-double.

USF Tops No. 18-Ranked Charlotte, 85-73, on Senior Night
Four Bulls scored in double figures, including seniors Brian Swift (19 points), Marlyn Bryant (12 points) and Terrence Leather (24 points), to lead the USF men's basketball team to an 85-73 win over the No. 18-ranked Charlotte 49ers on Senior Night Saturday at the USF Sun Dome.

The win marked the first victory over a ranked opponent for USF since an 87-69 win over No. 25 Texas on Dec. 9, 2000. Along with Swift, Bryant and Leather, who totaled 55 of USF's 85 points, was sophomore Marius Prekevicius, burying three 3-pointers en route to 11 points on the night.

Leather led all scorers with 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the floor. The Tampa native increased his career scoring total to 1,133 points (12th all-time in school history), while grabbing 12 rebounds to register his 10th double-double of the season.

Swift went 6-of-16 from the field (3-of-8 from behind the 3-point arch) to record double-figure scoring for the fourth-straight contest. He also dished out six assists on the night to up his career total to 376 (sixth all-time in USF history).

Bryant notched his third career double-double, pouring in 12 points while registering 12 boards. The Leesburg, Fla., product also tallied three assists and three steals versus the 49ers.

Prekevicius went 3-of-7 from 3-point land to record his first double-digit points total since Feb. 5, 2005, versus Tulane.

Earlier in the week the Bulls dropped their final conference road contest to TCU, 70-53.

USF will travel to Memphis, Tenn., to take part in the 2005 Kelly Tires C-USA Men's Basketball Tournament, March 9-12. As the No. 11 seed, the Bulls will play the No. 6 seed Houston Cougars on Wednesday, March 9, in the opening round. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. (EST).

Bulls Fall in Second Round of Conference USA Tournament
The USF women's basketball team lost in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament last week, dropping a a 65-57 decision to eventual tourney champion TCU.

The Bulls routed Southern Miss, 68-47, in the first round in back of 14 points apiece from Rachael Sheats and Nalini Miller. Jessica Dickson added 12 points in the win.

In the next round USF seemed to lose its offense, shooting just 31 percent from the field against the Lady Frogs on the afternoon. The Bulls got 15 points from Dickson and 13 points from Anedra Gilmore in the loss. Ezria Parsons grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

USF will now sit back and wait until Monday evening, March 14, to see if it receives an invitation to take part in its second-straight Women's National Invitation Tournament.

In addition to the on the floor news, Dickson was named by the leagues coaches to the All- Conference USA First Team. She is the first player to be named to the the first team in C-USA and the first player since Tammy Van Oppen (1993-94 season) to earn conference first team honors.

Baseball Goes 1-4 in Hawaii Tournament
Spending the week in sunny Hawaii, the USF baseball team found it's not always fun in the sun after dropping three of its four games at the Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament in Honolulu.

The Bulls began the week off strong on Tuesday with a 6-4 victory over UC-Davis, their fifth-straight win. A two-run single by freshman Dexter Butler in the eighth inning gave USF the final lead they needed, and the Bulls hung on.

That was the last taste of victory they would receive for the week, though, as the Bulls fell to Louisiana-Lafayette (4-1), Hawaii (9-0), Sacramento State (7-4) and lost a tight one to No. 15 Wichita State, 2-1.

The Bulls are back in action in Florida with a 7 p.m. game against Stetson on Tuesday before returning to Red McEwen Field for a weekend series against Quinnipiac.

USF Softball Goes 5-4 on the Week
After winning two back-to-back doubleheaders against Maine and St. Bonaventure, the USF softball team dropped its next four games at the Louisville Slugger Tournament before closing out the tournament with an 8-6 win over the Jacksonville Dolphins.

Pitchers Bree Spence and Danielle Urbanik won two games in two days, both getting the starts against Maine on Tuesday and St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. Spence pitched two complete games, both of which went into extra innings.

On Friday, the Bulls opened up the tournament with a loss, 9-0, to No. 7 Michigan in five innings. USF tried to come back in its next game of the day against Pittsburgh, tying up the game on three occasions and driving it into extra innings. However, once Pitt put a run on the board in the tenth inning, the Bulls couldn't mount another comeback and lost, 4-3.

On Saturday the Bulls drove the No. 15 Florida Gators into extra innings, but couldn't get the win in the end, losing, 6-5. USF then lost to Chattanooga, 7-1, to close out day two of the tournament.

USF finally got its first win of the tournament against in-state rival Jacksonville. After leading 8-4 through three innings, relief pitcher Nicole Christensen came in the game in the fourth and pitched three shutout innings. In the seventh, Christensen let two runners get on base, but Urbanik came in the game to close it out and post her first save of the year. Christensen also picked up her first win of the year.

The Bulls will face Temple on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and then will travel to Clearwater to participate in the Speedline Invitational Thursday through Sunday.

Injuries Plague Women's Tennis Team in Tight 4-3 Losses
With juniors Luisa Obando and Fabiana Taverna still sidelined by injuries, the Bulls played two tough teams while starting off each match with a two-love deficit.

Even with a depleted roster, the Bulls never gave in to their opponents, making them earn every point for the win.

On Monday the Bulls fell to South Alabama, 4-3. In doubles competition, the No.1 team of Neyssa Etienne and Gabriela Duch were first off the court and defeated the Jaguars' duo of Katrina Palenikova and Maria Zivicova, 8-6.

With the doubles matches tied at one a piece because of the No. 3 position being defaulted, freshmen Courtney Vernon and Liz Cruz took Andrea Kurekova and Klara Jarova to a tie-break. In the tie-break, the teams traded points until South Alabama broke away to win the match, 9-8 (7-5).

In order to win, the Bulls had to win all four doubles matches to earn the victory but fell short in their efforts.

Later in the week the Bulls faced intra-state rival Florida State. It was a different team with the same result. Because of injuries, but not lack of effort, the Seminoles defeated the Bulls, 4-3.

The No. 1 doubles team of Etienne and Duch came out of the gate strong, dominating the No. 8 team in the country of Mihaela Moldovan and Lindsay Deason, 8-1.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, the No. 2 doubles team of Courtney Vernon and Liz Cruz didn't have the same result as their teammates, giving the Seminoles a 3-0 advantage entering singles play.

In singles competition, USF completely dominated FSU at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 positions.

With the match tied 3-3, the match came down to Vernon at the No. 1 position. Going into the third and deciding set, the experience of FSU senior and No. 16 ranked Mihaela Moldovan took over. Moldovan blanked Vernon, 6-0, to take the match, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0.

The Bulls will return to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts to face Kansas on Monday, March 21. First serve is set for 2 p.m.

Men's Tennis Falls to No. 20 Texas
The USF men's tennis team suffered its fifth loss of the season as the Texas Longhorns swept the Bulls, 7-0, on Saturday afternoon at Penick-Allison Tennis Center.

In doubles, USF didn't have an answer for the Longhorns who recorded a pair of 8-4 wins at the top two spots in the lineup. The team of Luis Diaz Barriga and sophomore Garrett Snyder defeated Freddy Barton and Dillon Brozyna at the second spot before Callum Beale and Travis Helgeson clinched the doubles point with a victory over Uli Kiendl and Juan Barragan at the No. 1 position.

Playing at the No. 4 singles position, freshman Brozyna led early in the first set but was overcome by a late rally from Texas freshman Barriga and ultimately lost, 7-5, 6-2.

The Bulls will look to regain their winning ways when they face Georgia State on Monday, March 7, and Virginia Tech on Wednesday, March 9, at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. First serve for both matches will be at 2 p.m.

Women's Golfers Finish 17th at Lady Gator
The USF women's golf team shot a final-round 323 for a three-day total of 963 to finish in 17th place at the Lady Gator this past weekend in Gainesville. Wake Forest won the event with a three-day total of 883.

The Bulls take this week off before hosting their own tournament, the USF/Waterlefe Invitational, in Bradenton, March 14-15.

USF Wins Dick Wittcoff/USF Invitational by One Stroke over Florida Southern
The USF men's golf team pulled out a come-from-behind win over Florida Southern, shooting a final-round 290 to win the Dick Wittcoff/USF Invitational Sunday at The Claw.

Senior Brad Quiri had an impressive invitational, shooting a 219 on the weekend and a third-round 72. He finished tied for second with Patrick McLennan of Middle Tennessee State in the individual competition.

The Bulls return to the course on March 14-15 for the Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate in Aiken, S.C.

Sailing Team Gains Experience After Three Weekend Regattas
The USF sailing team gained a wealth of experience this past weekend after sailing in three separate regattas. The Bulls highest finish of the two days was at their own Women's Intersectional where they took first place. Also in St. Petersburg, USF finished sixth at the Eckerd Intersectional and brought home a fourth-place finish at the McIntyre Team Race in California.

USF's 'A' team of Kristen Herman and Jee Lee and 'B' team of Abby Ethington and Ashley Wierzbicki led the Bulls to their first-place finish at the USF Women's Intersectional. Herman and Lee finished second in their division with 26 points and five top-three finishes in eight races. Ethington and Wierzbicki, with 18 points, tied for first in their division, and finished all but one race of the weekend in the top three, including three first-place finishes.

At the Eckerd Intersectional, the Bulls' sixth-place finish came from an 'A' round 90 and a 'B' round 75 points for a total of 165 points. In 12 races in the 'A' division, Phil Tanner and Sarah Hakken finished eighth with a weekend-best, third-place finish in the fourth race. Cody Barnes and Nicki Beckett, sailing in the 'B' division, finished sixth and posted three top-five finishes.

Rounding out the weekend at the McIntyre Team Race, the Bulls finished fourth with a record 6-6 behind strong sailing from Kevin Reali, Andrew Blom, Bryan Paine, Ashley Reyonlds, Andrea Hurtado, and Liz Foy.

In addition, in the most recent sailing rankings, released on March 1, the Bulls' coed squad is currently 13th in the country while the women's team is 15th.

Outdoor Track & Field Participates in First Meet of Season
The USF men's and women's track and field team opened its outdoor season this past weekend at the UCF Invitational in Orlando.

Notable performances on the women's side were turned in by:

Chandra Brewer took first in the shot put with a throw of 49-02.25 inches

In the pole vault the Bulls placed two in the top three led by a first-place finish by Megan Malone with a height of 11-08.50 inches. Karla Savery finished third with a height of 10-10.75 inches.

Jequita Hall finished second in both the 100-meter dash (12.02) and the 200-meter dash (24.23).

Alexis McGaffagan finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 15.16.

On the men's side:

In the 400 meters Adam Armatas was first in 49.81 while Garin Flowers was second in 51.57.

In the 800-meter run the Bulls took the top three spots with Derek Lincoln (1:58.14), Ryan Time (2:02.18) and Nich Ferrer (2:04.21) taking 1-2-3, respectively.

Lincoln also won the 1500-meter run in 4:01.19 while Ferrer was third in 4:04.58.

Taiwo Egun finished third in the 100-meter dash in 11.04 and also third in the 200-meter run in 22.18.

In the field events, Brandon Carey dominated. winning the shot put (52-11.50 inches), the discus (152-04) and the hammer throw (168.08).