New Era, Same Ambition for South Florida Women’s Basketball
June 23, 2026 | Women's Basketball
For the first time since 2000 — when the Internet was painstakingly reached by dialing up America Online and CBS-TV debuted an adventurous reality show called "Survivor'' — the University of South Florida's women's basketball summer training is being overseen by a head coach not named Jose Fernandez.
It's a time of change for one of USF's most powerful programs. But the new era has brought a track record of stability and success.
Kristy Curry, who won 554 games and earned 14 NCAA Tournament bids over 27 seasons as a head coach in the Big Ten (Purdue), Big 12 (Texas Tech) and SEC (Alabama), said she's excited about helping the Bulls reach higher levels of prosperity. 
"Kristy Curry is a big name in women's college basketball,'' said USF guard Hannah Kohn, a transfer from Clemson. "Everybody knows her and knows she's a good coach. She has such positive energy. College basketball is hard, but I always noticed her teams at Alabama lifted each other up and had a good time. Obviously, the X's and O's were done very well with the way they won.
"As a player, that kind of mindset is attractive. And it's not just the basketball. She's a great woman and her whole coaching staff are people you want to be around and learn from every day. Any player that looks at USF women's basketball would realize it's a great situation.''
Still, change can be challenging. Curry said she has great admiration for Fernandez's USF accomplishments over 25 seasons — which include 485 victories, 10 NCAA Tournament bids, 12 teams with at least 20 wins and 20 wins against teams ranked in the top 25 — and wants to build upon them.
Returning senior point guard Stefanie Ingram said it has been a bit of a whirlwind. She was recruited to USF by Fernandez, who became head coach of the WNBA's Dallas Wings last October. Fernandez's chief assistant, Michele Woods-Baxter, became the interim head coach and guided the Bulls to a 20-12 finish. Curry was hired last March 24.
"I'm looking forward to what the new coaches are bringing and I think my role is very similar to last season — being a leader, adapting to this new system, helping others adapt and getting into the season coherent and working together,'' Ingram said. "We're an experienced team, mostly juniors and seniors. We can speed it up when we need to or slow it down and take control at times. We're going to be a really smart group. We can do what it takes.''
Curry said she and her staff tapped into their large database of existing college players — a must in the ever-changing transfer portal era — to find the right mix of basketball skills and personal dynamics. Curry wants to aggressively recruit the high-school ranks, particularly in Florida, but said there's an obvious difference in the physical/mental maturity of an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old.
"You're always looking for a good mix and balance between the classes,'' Curry said. "But more and more, it's becoming more difficult for freshmen to contribute at a really high level. The experienced players are helpful. They have so many qualities that impact your team and influence its ability to be successful.''
USF has nine players with experience at other colleges.
Pretty typical for today's era, actually.
"Sometimes, a change of scenery is needed and there's nothing wrong with that,'' Curry said. "That doesn't mean the situation they left was negative. There are multiple reasons (for transferring). It might be more playing time. It might be a better system or style of play. It might just be that they needed a change.
"Regardless of the reasons, I think the most important thing is not just focusing on the talent. You have to focus on the person. I believe it's a person who makes the player special. What about the character and the work ethic? Are they selfless? Are they about 'we' more than 'me?' We've always tried to understand their village and their family because I think it's more than just talent.''
Here's a closer look at the forces shaping USF women's basketball for the 2026-27 season:
Returning Players
The Bulls have four returning players — Ingram (5-foot-8), senior forward Fatou Diakite (6-3), sophomore center Lana Vukcevic (6-5) and sophomore guard Lee Teichman (5-8).
Ingram, an Orlando native who played at Georgia and Florida Atlantic before arriving at USF last season, was a dynamic point guard for the Bulls. She earned third team All-American Conference honors after averaging 9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and a conference-leading 5.7 assists per game.
She had 27 points in an upset of Duke and 23 at Vanderbilt, while registering her season-high playmaking total (13 assists) against Memphis.
She was 16th nationally in assists with 181, which was the fourth-highest single-season total in USF program history.
For someone accustomed to rhythm — Ingram plays the ukulele, drums, flute and kalimba — she made some sweet music indeed.
"Stefanie is clearly an impact player,'' Curry said. "Our goal for her is making sure that she's playing basketball for a long time after she leaves here. I've been impressed with her versatility and also her work ethic, which is phenomenal. She has a chance to be an all-conference (first team) player, no question.''
Diakite, originally from the Ivory Coast, has two seasons of USF experience after beginning her college career at Charlotte. Last season, she averaged 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 54.1 percent from the field. At times, she has shown brilliant flashes (career-high 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting at Temple, career-high 11 rebounds against New Orleans, career-high four blocks against North Texas).
"Fatou has been in the gym and worked hard from Day One,'' Curry said. "I'm really pleased with how she has been vocal and showing leadership. We've got to keep her healthy and continue working on her conditioning and stamina. That is a separator. She is getting stronger.''
The Bulls also return Teichman (Israel) and Vukcevic (Montenegro), who are participating in summertime international competitions. Teichman played in 21 games last season, while Vukcevic appeared in seven.
The Shooters
Curry said she knew USF needed to add some outside shooting proficiency. Once Clemson's Kohn (5-9) hit the transfer portal, the transaction occurred almost instantly.
Kohn is the niece of former Bulls four-year starting point guard Reggie Kohn (1999-03), the all-time assists leader for USF's men's program. Kohn, a deadly 3-point shooter who once had a 61-point game (along with a national record 19 makes from 3-point range) in high school, had twice competed against Curry's teams at Alabama.
"That one was a no-brainer,'' Curry said. "I knew the player. I had watched a lot of film. I had seen her with my own eyes. She has such knowledge, such pace, such a work ethic. She just gets it.''
Kohn began college ball in 2023-24, when she was a Southern Conference All-Freshman selection at Chattanooga. She shot a program-record 46.3-percent from 3-point range, then transferred to Clemson, where she averaged 9.2 points and had 79 makes from 3-point range (the second-best 3-point total in Clemson history). Last season, she averaged 4.7 points in 33 games (12 starts), while making the game-winning 3-pointer in an upset of No. 9-ranked Duke. That play was named the ACC's "Nothing But Net Moment of the Year.''
The Bulls could get big production from senior guard Amourie Porter (5-10), who was a two-time first-team All-Big South Conference performer at Winthrop. Porter, who has 1,096 career points in three college seasons (Cal State-Bakersfield as a freshman), averaged 16.3 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 45.2-percent from the field last year at Winthrop.
Senior guard Kate Novik (6-0) was an All-Big East Conference second-team selection at DePaul, where she averaged 12.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and a team-leading 3.5 assists last season. She had a triple-double (12 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) against UMass-Lowell. Novik, who is spending this summer in her home country of Belarus, has 1,034 career points.
Curry said she has been pleasantly surprised by the offensive production of junior guard Savannah Curry (6-0), a transfer from Temple who's mostly known for being a lockdown defender. The player averaged 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds last season, while shooting 90.7-percent from the free-throw line. In high school, the player was a 41-percent shooter from 3-point range.
The Bulls are also hopeful of contributions from junior guard Gabby Kennerly (5-9), a transfer from Mount St. Mary's, and freshman guard Serenity Hardy (5-9), last season's Florida Miss Basketball from the storied program at Winter Haven High School. Both players are rehabilitating from injuries and their timetables for return remain in flux.
Kennerly, an All-Rookie selection in the MAAC as a freshman, averaged 15.1 points and 2.9 rebounds last season. She had a 30-point game against Iona. Hardy, a three-time Polk County Player of the Year by the Lakeland Ledger who had more than 2,000 career points, averaged 23.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.8 steals last season. She was ranked as Florida's No. 1 shooting-guard prospect by Prep Girls Hoops and the nation's 107th-ranked player by All-Star Girls Report.
Interior Strength
Curry is especially excited about the presence of two transfers, a pair of powerful 6-3 forwards who appear to be mirror images — senior Mallory Collier (NC State) and junior Kendall Puryear (Purdue).
"Both of them should be a double-double waiting to happen,'' Curry said. "I'd love to play them a little bit together, go a little bigger in situations when we can. Kendall is dynamic around the rim. Mallory has the versatility to step outside and hit a three. They are both physical players. They will bring a presence to the paint.
"They are both workers. With some post players, I'm not sure all coaches can say that about the interior players. Sometimes, they don't embrace the work as quickly as you want them to. But these two, they are mature and they can be really special together. They're going to help us a lot.''
Collier selected NC State over Curry's Alabama program when she was recruited out of Bartlett High School in Millington, Tenn., near Memphis. She played in 67 games (11 starts) with the Wolfpack, averaging 2.6 points and 1.9 rebounds. She shot 62.1-percent in 16 games off the bench last season. The Wolfpack made the Women's Final Four in 2024, when Collier was a freshman.
"I've had my ups and downs and my role fluctuated at NC State,'' Collier said. "I definitely hold myself to a high standard and I expect a lot of myself and this team at USF. I feel like I'm going to be a big post presence down low, me and KP (Puryear) both down there, so I feel like this year is going to be great.''
Puryear played 59 Purdue games in two seasons, including 14 starts as a sophomore, when she averaged 6.6 points and 3.2 rebounds with seven double-digit scoring performances. Her older brother, Kevin, was a four-year starter and three-time captain with Missouri men's basketball. He made the SEC All-Freshman team in 2016.
"Mallory and I can get a good little high-low game going,'' Puryear said. "She has phenomenal footwork and I'm really excited to play with her. As for me, I'm like a four/five-stretch player. I'm aggressive and strong. Got a little mean streak when that's needed. I'm very driven to get the work done.''
Down low, the Bulls will also rely on Diakite, Vukcevic and Lisandra Vetesina, a 6-2 freshman forward from Estonia.
The Chemistry
Thirteen players overall.
Nine of them at USF for the first time.
An entirely new coaching staff.
How does it come together?
"In a lot of ways, it's so unusual,'' Puryear said. "The transfer portal is like speed dating, but you start on Monday and you have to get married by Wednesday. We're getting to know each other. That will be happening all summer. But so far, I like what I see.''
You worry when it's a quiet team, when everyone goes their separate ways.
USF women's basketball is loud and talkative, fun and caring, social and empathetic — all the qualities that Curry has learned to love.
"We concentrate on a lot of areas that aren't just the X's and O's,'' Curry said. "We spend time together, building teamwork, camaraderie, chemistry and collaboration. It's not just all business. We'll never lose sight of how important it is to build relationships.
"With the players who have been at USF, they bring knowledge and understanding of what this program is all about. We want to build on their positives and understand what has worked, while showing them how we can continue to grow. They're trying to learn from me, but I'm trying to learn from them, too. Listening is something that coaches often lose sight of. I want to listen to them and understand how we can help them have the best possible finish while putting an exclamation point on their career.''
What does Ingram think about all of that?
"I think we have a lot of unselfish players,'' Ingram said. "It's going to be even scoring, a lot of points, a faster pace and, I think, a lot of fun. The environment is good. The energy is good. We're moving in a great direction.''
Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
