TAMPA - The University of South Florida women's basketball team will take one final look back at its 2009 Women's National Invitation Tournament postseason title this week when it raises its championship banner on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. The Bulls will kick off its 2009-10 campaign that night when it takes on Florida A&M at 7 p.m. in the Sun Dome. In recognition of the banner rising, the first 500 fans through the turnstiles will receive a commemorative USF WNIT Rally Towel.
"Friday night will be the final time that we look back at an absolutely amazing time for USF women's basketball," said head coach Jose Fernandez. "Once that banner goes up, though, we will put that great experience behind us and look to take the next step in our program's history, and that's to make it back to the NCAA Tournament."
Last season, the Bulls posted a 27-10 record - the best in school history - and an 8-8 eighth place finish in the BIG EAST Conference. USF finished the year winning five consecutive games en route to the WNIT postseason championship - including three consecutive on the road. After a first round bye, the Bulls took care of Florida Gulf Coast (88-81 in overtime) on March 21 and Mississippi (74-57) on March 26, both coming at home. USF then hit the road, for 10 straight days, to defeat St. Bonaventure (80-66) on March 29, Boston College (82-65) on April 1 and Kansas (75-71) on April 4 in the title game.
The championship game with the Jayhawks was played in front of a USF, Kansas and Big 12 women's basketball record crowd of 16,113 at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse. It was also the eighth largest crowd to see a women's basketball game in Division I last year.
The Bulls return two of its four scorers from last year's team in Janae Stokes and Lawson.
Stokes was second on the team in scoring averaging 12.6 points per game and was one of the top three-point shooters in America hitting 39.7 percent (116-292) of her shots from behind the arc, ranking her 37th in the nation.
Lawson finished the year fourth on the team in scoring netting 10.6 points per contest, and was tied for second in rebounding grabbing 6.7 per game. In addition, the sixth-year senior shot 55.9 percent (151-270) from the field on the year which was good enough for fifth in the BIG EAST.
Season and individual tickets for the 2009-10 campaign are now available by calling 1-800-GoBulls. Season tickets start at $60 while season floor seats are $110. Individual tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youths (16 and under) and senior citizens. Group tickets, consisting of 10 people or more, start at $3.
Additional ticket options include Family Four Packs starting at $15. This includes four single game tickets (two adults and two children or three children and one adult.
All-U-Can-Eat Seats also return this year and are $15 for adults and $12 for youths.
