USF doesn’t have a team in the Women’s Final Four this weekend in Tampa, but the Bulls will have a lot going on there anyway.
As the host school for the event, the USF athletic department will fill multiple important roles, including those with the NCAA, the media, and event organizers.
Sammie Puisis, the leading scorer for the Bulls basketball team, will take center stage Thursday at 7 p.m. in the three-point shooting contest. She is one of eight shooters (men and women) in the event.
Puisis
The event at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, site of the Men’s Final Four, will be televised on ESPN.
Puisis will have more work to do after that. She’ll fly back to Tampa to participate in Saturday's Lilly Women's College All-Star Game at 3 p.m. That game is on ESPN2.
Puisis sank 106 3-pointers this season, ranking fifth in the country. She helped lead USF to the American Athletic Conference championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The only other time she participated in a contest like this was at the McDonald’s All-American game after graduating from Mason (Ohio) High School.
"It's different, grabbing the ball off the rack instead of getting a pass,” she told GoUSFBulls.com.
“You've got to have the right rhythm, and I will be practicing that. After that, it's just a matter of doing what I've always done. Trusting in the process and making my shots."
While all that is happening, USF women’s coach Jose Fernandez will take over as president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
He is taking over at a time when interest in the women’s game is at an all-time high.
On its website, the WCBA says, “The association is committed to serving its members and helping to grow women’s and girls’ basketball by providing educational programming, networking opportunities, information and news, legislative and rules updates, and acting as the collective voice of the membership to the NCAA and other governing bodies of the sport.”
Fernandez just completed his 25th season at USF.
Bulls update:
USF may have found the player who can fill Puisis’ long-range shooting ability for next season.
Katie Davidson, a 5-10 guard/forward from IU Indianapolis, committed to the Bulls as a graduate student. She hit 47 percent of her 3-pointers this season. She also hit 38 of her last 40 free throw attempts.
Go Bulls🤘💚 #Committed pic.twitter.com/k2aUJHKSxw
— Katie Davidson (@kmdavidson12) April 2, 2025
The Bulls also picked up a commitment from Jacksonville University guard Edyn Battle. She was named to the All-Atlantic Sun first team, and it's likely that Fernandez was impressed when she scored 19 points against USF early in the season.
Interestingly, both Davidson and Battle started their college careers at Miami (Ohio).
The Bulls lost Vittoria Blasigh to the Miami Hurricanes via the transfer portal. Romi Levy has also entered the portal.