USF women rise to the occasion and hand AAC leader UTSA its first conference loss

Next game:  North Texas (16-5, 8-1) vs. USF (14-8, 7-2)

When: Saturday, February 1, 7 p.m. at the Yuengling Center

Media: ESPN+ and Bulls Unlimited

Wednesday night’s USF women’s basketball game against UTSA was the start of a four-game stretch of top American Athletic Conference teams. To put it plainly, the Bulls need a sweep of those games to retain any realistic chance of winning the regular-season AAC title.

The Bulls took that important first step by handing the Roadrunners their first AAC loss 75-63 before a spirited gathering at the Yuengling Center. It snapped a 10-game winning streak for UTSA and pulled the Bulls within a game of first place in the conference.

“I knew we're going to win this game. We were fired up, and once we share the ball so well, nobody can beat us,” USF guard and AAC preseason co-player of the year Romi Levy said, after knocking down a team-high 21 points.

It wasn’t easy, though.

The game was tied until Levy scored with 3:33 left in the third quarter. That put the Bulls ahead 39-37 and they pulled away from there.

“In the first half, we didn't do a very good job taking care of the basketball, and we took some questionable shots as well. But I thought once we got it into places we needed to get the ball to,” USF coach Jose Fernandez said.

“We got some high percentage shots, and when you share the ball like that – 24 of the 32 baskets were assisted. That's a really, really good number.”

UTSA played without its best player, forward Jordyn Jenkins.

“We've been through that before,” Fernandez said. “No one feels sorry for you. No one felt sorry for us last year.”

The top of the AAC standings is bunched tightly.

UTSA and North Texas are tied for first at 8-1 with USF a game behind in third place. The Bulls host North Texas on Saturday with a chance to avenge a 72-65 loss to the Mean Green on January 11.

Tulane and Temple are a game behind USF. The Bulls will travel to Temple on February 8 and they have to make up a game against Tulane after the scheduled game on January 22 was postponed because of terrible weather in New Orleans.

A makeup date has not been announced.

After all that, it’s back home against Rice on February 12. The Bulls know there is no margin for error, especially home games against teams they should figure to beat.

“Going into this game, you got three of your next four at home against top half of the league,” Fernandez said. “So it was very important that we needed to protect our on the floor.”