USF Women’s Hoops Opens Official Practice Eyeing Another Banner Season
TAMPA (SEPT. 25, 2019) – The USF women's basketball team, coming off its 15
th postseason tournament appearance, and its eighth straight, begins their first day of official practice on Thursday, Sept. 26, looking for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament at the end of the 2018-19 season.
The Bulls lose two key players off last season's roster to graduation, two players that were expected to make major impacts, in
Kitija Laksa and
Laura Ferreira. Laksa and Ferreira played just 19 games combined and averaged 16.3 and 14.9 points-per-game, respectively in the limited action.
Highlighting the Green and Gold's returnees is redshirt junior guard
Enna Pehadzic (Horsens, Denmark), the team's top returning scorer from a year ago. Pehadzic averaged 12.1 points per game and an impressive 15.4 points per outing in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). On Feb. 20, against East Carolina, Pehadzic poured in a career-high 35 points, the second highest point total by any AAC player during the 2018-19 campaign. For her efforts, Pehadzic was tabbed a Second Team AAC All-Conference selection, while also earning AAC All-Tournament honors.
Joining Pehadzic, with all-conference honors was
Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) who was named to the AAC All-Freshman team after her rookie campaign. Harvey, a sophomore guard, averaged 11.7 points per outing and made an immediate impact for the Bulls. She poured in a career high 25 points against Tulane on Jan. 19, and was twice named the Freshman of the Week. She also owns two AAC Honor Roll awards and was named to the Paradise Jam Tournament All-Star Team after her 52-point burst in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Harvey led the Bulls in scoring eight times and had 18 double-digit outings.
Returning in the frontcourt are post players
Beatriz Jordao (Pombal, Portugal),
Shae Leverett (Rincon, Ga.) and
Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.).
Jordao, a sophomore center, averaged 11.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game before suffering a season-ending injury after just 12 games. She started her collegiate career with a bang, recording a double-double at Ohio State on Nov. 6, with a 17-point, 10-rebound performance.
Leverett, a redshirt junior center, averaged 7.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest, which was good enough for second on the team. She recorded eight double-figure scoring performances and grabbed double-digit rebounds seven times. Leverett also rejected 1.6 blocks per game, good enough for third in The American, and 2.6 rejections per outing in conference action which led the league.
Henshaw, the Bulls' lone senior, also will be a force inside. Henshaw averaged 6.5 points per game but was a real problem on the glass for the opposition, grabbing a team leading 8.1 rebounds per outing which ranked fourth in the AAC. In addition, she grabbed 10.3 rebounds per contest in The American, which was tops in the conference.
USF, who boasts one of the toughest schedules in the country this season, tips off 2019-20 with five of the first six games at the Yuengling Center. The Bulls begin play on Nov. 5, at 5:30 p.m. when it welcomes in-state foe Jacksonville to Tampa, followed by Texas (Nov. 8, 7 p.m.), Howard (Nov. 12, 7 p.m.) and VCU (Nov. 15, 11 a.m.) before heading on the road to face defending NCAA champion Baylor on Nov. 19. USF closes out the six-game stretch at home against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 24 at 2 p.m.
In all, the Bulls will face 12 teams that advanced to the postseason in 2018-19 – eight in the NCAA Tournament and four in the WNIT – including three of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAAs; Baylor, Notre Dame (Nov. 30) and Mississippi State (Dec. 19). USF will also face American foe UConn, a No. 2 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament, twice, at home on Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. and in Hartford on March 2 at 7 p.m.
Click here to see the complete 2019-20 USF women's basketball schedule.
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USF notched its eighth consecutive 19-win season and eighth straight postseason appearance in 2018-19. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in
Enna Pehadzic and
Sydni Harvey.
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach
Jose Fernandez's 19 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.
