Bulls Travel to East Carolina for Midweek Matchup
Matchup:USF Bulls (13-12, 4-7 AAC) vs. ECU Pirates (13-12, 4-8 AAC)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019
Time:7 p.m. ET
Location: Greenville, N.C., Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum
Radio: AM 1040&
Bulls Unlimited(
Darek Sharp)
Watch:ECUPirates.com
Live Stats: ECUPirates.com
Twitter Updates:@USFWBB
TAMPA, Fla. Feb. 19, 2019 – USF women's basketball will travel to Greenville, N.C., to take on ECU on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
The Bulls are coming off a victory over Tulsa, when USF outscored Tulsa 16-2 in the fourth quarter the complete the comeback. USF earned the crucial conference win when
Enna Pehadzic (Horsens, Denmark) went off for 20 points and freshman
Luize Septe (Ventspils, Latvia), had a career high night with 16 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, two steals and an assist.
Play4Kay National Free Throw Challenge
USF is participating in the Play4Kay National Free Throw Challenge, where fans have the opportunity to pledge per free throw made by USF during the month of February. Help USF get to the top of the leaderboard by visiting KayYow.com and donating to USF's team page.
Last Time Out
USF (12-12, 3-7 AAC) defeated Tulsa despite not leading after the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter,
Elisa Pinzan (Murano, Italy) knocked down her only three pointer of the game to tie the contest for the last time.
Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) went on a 6-2 run by herself, with those two points being Tulsa's only points of the quarter. Three more Bulls went on to score seven more points and Tulsa fell to 11-13 on the season and 5-6 in AAC play.
Freshman
Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) leads USF in scoring with 12.3 points per game, but she missed the contest against Tulsa due to concussion protocol. Pehadzic is right behind with 10.6 points per game. Pehadzic burst into double-digit scoring averages after two straight 20+ point games. In conference play, she leads the Bulls with 14.4 points per game.
Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) leads USF on the boards with 7.5 per game.
Battered Bulls
South Florida has been limited to just nine healthy players and as few as eight, with five Bulls carrying the bulk of the minutes. Adversity struck the Bulls this season, who were without five players and are now without four players, since
Alyssa Rader returned to the lineup, including three Bulls out for the season. Harvey was the lone Bull to play and start in all contests before she missed the contest against Tulsa due to concussion protocol.
Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia), USF's returning leading scorer for the 2018-19 campaign and player of the year candidate, suffered a season-ending injury on Nov. 15.
Beatriz Jordao (Pombal, Portugal), after a promising start, will forego the remainder of her freshman campaign when a nagging injury won out to end 2018. Freshman
Silvia Serrat (Banyoles, Spain) is sidelined with a ACL/meniscus tear suffered in the offseason. Senior
Laura Ferreira (Lisboa, Portugal) has missed action due to illness.
Boards for the Bulls
Rebounding has been a weapon for the Bulls, who are out-performing opponents on the boards by 10.8 per game, good enough for sixth nationally. USF ranks 12th nationally in total rebounds this season and 11th nationally in rebounds per game.
The Opponent
ECU Pirates
ECU is 13-12 this season and owns a 4-8 conference record. ECU's conference wins have come over Memphis, SMU, Tulane and Wichita State. The Pirates are led by Raven Johnson with 13.0 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. Right behind is Lashonda Monk with 12.7 points per game and 3.21 assists per game. ECU is coming off a 52-63 loss to Houston on Saturday, where Johnson had 16 points in the defeat.
Notable
- USF pulled out a big comeback for a 59-48 win against Tulsa in its last conference bout.
- Enna Pehadzic jumped into double figure scoring averages, putting up 10.2 points per game after her 21-point performance against Houston and 20-point scoring effort against Tulsa.
- Pehadzic was named to The American Honor Roll for her performance against Tulsa.
- Rebounding is a key for USF, who is out-performing opponents on the boards by 10.8, a good enough margin for sixth nationally and conference-leading statistic.
- Sydni Harvey leads the conference in free-throw percentage with 87.3 percent efficiency.
Follow the Action
Fans can follow the action with live radio on AM 1040 and on BullsUnlimited with
Darek Sharp on the call. ECU will have a live stream on ECUPirates.com. Live stats will be available on ECUPirates.com.
Up Next
USF return home to host Wichita State at 7 p.m. in the Yuengling Center.
About USF Women's Basketball
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF women's basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (
Twitter |
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Instagram).
USF notched its sixth consecutive 20-win season and fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017-18. It marked the ninth 20-win season in program history, with head coach Jose Fernandez at the helm for all nine. The Bulls posted 26 wins in 2017-18, just shy of the program record of 27 set in 2008-09 and 2014-15.
USF has made 14 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez's 18 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 300 games.
--#GoBulls –
