TAMPA, Fla. — The USF women's basketball team is the American Athletic Conference Regular Season Title winner for the second time in three years.

What You Need To Know

  • USF Women's Basketball win AAC regular season title for the second time in three years

  • Elena Tsineke, Sammie Puisis, and Dulcy Menjiadeu lead the team in their respectuve categories

  • Head coach Jose Fernandez said statistically this is the best team he's coached

  • USF closes regular season with a home game against Tulsa and an away game at Cincinnati

The Bulls defeated SMU, Saturday, 70-62 for the title.

Head Coach Jose Fernandez told the media, "You know what, I couldn't be prouder of this group, especially where it all started last summer with our returners and then the freshmen class that we brought in and then the transfer group." 

South Florida was led by senior guard Elena Tsineke that night who scored a game-high 27 points in the win.  

Junior guard Sammie Puisis added 18 to help The Bulls improve to 24-5 on the season and 13-1 in conference play.

Tsineke said, "It feels good when you have a good game but I think it's my teammates that put me in that position. They found me on the court, they found me where I was open and it just worked out like that so all credits to them."

Puisis added, "It was so fun. It's so great to get that win and that accomplishment with this group of girls. You work so hard all summer so it was really fun." 

With the win, South Florida earned the Number 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Senior forward Dulcy Mendjiadeu, who is second on the team in scoring and leads the team in rebounding, says she wants to leave behind a lasting legacy with The Bulls. 

"One thing I'm really proud of this year is my work ethic and the way I really transformed myself to be where I am right now," said Mendjiadeu. "I just want to let that to be like if you want something, you just have to decide in your mind make up for it and just go ahead and do it."

Coach Fernandez said statistically, he has the best team he's ever coached.

"I don't want to take away from a lot of the teams that we've had here," he said. "Played in three different conferences, every year is different but we've never had three of the top scorers in the conference and three of the top 30 scorers in the country either." 

Make no mistake, he said they earned the title, but this is where things get tough.

"I just told our guys, it's a great accomplishment, with two games left to play to be regular season champions but we still have so much to do," said coach Fernandez. "I think you need to close out league play the right way and win at home and you get ready for Cincinnati and then be ready to win three games in three days."

USF will close out its season with a home game Wednesday against Tulsa and then travel to Cincinnati for the final game of the regular season next week.