Tuesday night's shooting performance won't hang in the Louvre, but one undeniably beautiful fact emerged from USF's 58-48 victory against the North Texas Mean Green in the American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals at Dickies Arena.
The No. 3-seeded Bulls (22-10) are 40 minutes away from an AAC championship and the program's 10th NCAA Tournament bid.
USF faces the No. 9-seeded and defending AAC champion Rice Owls, a 67-49 semifinal winner against Temple, in Wednesday night's title game (ESPNU, 7 p.m. EST) that carries an automatic NCAA berth.
The Bulls swept Rice during the regular season, capturing a 74-64 decision on Dec. 29 at Houston, then winning a riveting 82-77 triple-overtime thriller on Feb. 12 at the Yuengling Center. Those dramatics were set up by Sammie Puisis' 3-pointer off an inbounds pass at the buzzer.
Rice (17-16) is trying to win four AAC games in four days for the second consecutive season.
"Rice is familiar with us and we're familiar with them,'' USF head coach Jose Fernandez said. "They've had great success in the conference tournament (7-0 in AAC play). It will be a great championship game for one team that gets to go to the NCAA Tournament.
"Our kids understood that we really challenged them in November and December (with a rigorous non-conference schedule). We might be having a different conversation right now had we beaten Tulsa and East Carolina (in the final two regular-season games) and been in position to get an at-large (NCAA) bid. You can win the (AAC) regular-season championship and not get to the NCAA. Now we're 40 minutes away. We need to win one game to get in. That's the most important thing. I'm proud of our team for putting us in this position.''
Against No. 2-seeded North Texas (24-8), the Bulls built a 16-point second-quarter advantage. But when the Bulls shot just 2-for-13 during the third quarter, when they were outscored 15-6, the Mean Green climbed back into contention.
North Texas made it a one-point game, 39-38, on Ereauna Hardaway's bucket, and Fernandez called a time out with 7:24 remaining.
"There was belief in our huddle,'' Fernandez said. "The players were talking about playing hard at both ends of the court and what they needed to do. We were getting stagnant. We knew we had to attack them. So we turned it around and got things going in our favor. That's the sign of a good team.''
Out of the timeout, Puisis sprung free behind a screen and buried a 12-foot runner, igniting an 8-0 run that gave USF some breathing room. Vittoria Blasigh had nine of her team-high 13 points in the final 4:52, including a logo 3-pointer with the shot clock running down that put the Bulls up 52-44.
"You've got to want to take those shots,'' Fernandez said. "I've been very, very hard on her for two years. She's a great offensive player and she's capable of doing things like this.''
"I feel like we stayed together the whole game and brought the energy (in the fourth quarter),'' Blasigh said.
Carla Brito (11 points, six rebounds) and point guard Mama Dembele (11 points, five assists, three steals), while Puisis got seven of her nine points on her first three shot attempts. It was an uneven offensive performance — just 30.3-percent shooting overall — but USF came through in the big moments.
But the most astounding stat line was turned in by forward L'or Mputu, the AAC's Most Improved Player who collected a career-high 21 rebounds, the fifth-highest total in program history. Overall, USF out-rebounded North Texas 48-40.
"The reason L'or is doing so well is she had a great offseason,'' Fernandez said. "She put in a lot of work with (former USF player) Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu. Because she invested and worked, she got results like tonight.''
Now it's down to one game for the Bulls to accomplish one of their primary goals. They were toughened by a top-flight non-conference slate, which included a victory against the ACC champion (Duke) and defeats against the SEC champion (South Carolina), the Big 12 champion (TCU) and the Big East champion (UConn).
"I think we are ready,'' Blasigh said. "I think we are playing well at the end of the season. If we play our game, we are very confident that we can do this.''
"We control our own destiny,'' Fernandez said. "The next 40 minutes will decide that. We've been to the NCAA Tournament a lot and we've been on the wrong side of the bubble, too. Hopefully we can rebound and defend (against Rice) like we did (against North Texas). Rice plays really, really hard. They don't take bad shots. It will be a challenge. It's the championship game and one team will go dancing.''
The Bulls are 40 minutes away from dusting off their dancing shoes.
