As the USF women’s basketball team prepares for its first American Athletic Conference tournament game, four of its players received recognition for outstanding seasons.
Graduate guard Mama Dembele was named the Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the conference’s All-Defensive team. Senior forward L'or Mputu was honored as the AAC’s Most Improved Player.
Graduate guard Sammie Puisis was named first-team All-Conference, and junior forward Carla Brito earned second-team honors.
Dembele, who transferred to USF this season from Missouri, is the first Bulls player to win Defensive Player of the Year.
Her high-energy impact on the Bulls was highlighted by one startling statistic. Dembele is the first Division I men’s or women’s player, NBA, or WNBA player this century to have a game with 50-plus minutes played, 10-plus assists, three-plus steals, and zero turnovers against Rice on February 12.
She was 21st nationally in assists average at 5.4 per game and her 163 total assists was 18th nationally.
Mputu had 10 or more rebounds in 10 games this season and became the fourth player in program history to win the Most Improved award.
Puisis returned from a devastating ACL injury last season to become one of the most prolific long-range shooters in the country.
Her 95 made 3-pointers were fifth nationally, and she was named to the USBWA Ann Myers Drysdale Award Midseason Watch List.
Also, on December 24, Puisis was the USBWA National Player of the Week and Honorable mention AP Player of the Week Honorable Mention after leading USF to an upset win over 10th-ranked Duke.
Brito had six double-doubles, including earning one in the first half against Florida Atlantic. She finished that game with 14 points and 15 rebounds.
The Bulls, 20-10 overall and 13-4 in the conference, are seeded third in the AAC tournament. They open Monday at 9 p.m. against the winner of Tulane and Wichita State.