2017–18 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team

The 2017–18 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team represented the University of South Florida in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bulls, coached by Jose Fernandez in his eighteenth season, played their home games at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. This was USF's fifth season as a member of the American Athletic Conference, known as The American or AAC. They finished the season 26–8, 13–3 in AAC play to finish in second place. They advanced to the championship game of the American Athletic Conference women's tournament for the fourth year in a row, where they lost to Connecticut for the fourth time. They received at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament where they got upset by Buffalo in the first round.

2017–18 South Florida Bulls women's basketball
NCAA Women's Tournament, first round
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 19
Record	26–8 (13–3 The American)
Head coach	Jose Fernandez (18th season)
Associate head coach	Jeff Osterman
Assistant coaches	Michele Woods-Baxter Jesyka Burks-Wiley
Home arena	USF Sun Dome

2017–18 American Athletic Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 UConn †	16	–	0		1.000			36	–	1		.973
No. 19 South Florida	13	–	3		.813			26	–	8		.765
UCF	12	–	4		.750			22	–	11		.667
Cincinnati	10	–	6		.625			19	–	13		.594
Houston	9	–	7		.563			20	–	12		.625
Wichita State	9	–	7		.563			14	–	17		.452
East Carolina	7	–	9		.438			16	–	15		.516
Tulane	5	–	11		.313			14	–	17		.452
Memphis	5	–	11		.313			10	–	20		.333
SMU	4	–	12		.250			10	–	20		.333
Temple	3	–	13		.188			12	–	19		.387
Tulsa	3	–	13		.188			10	–	21		.323
† 2018 American Tournament winner As of 30 March 2018 Rankings from AP poll

Media

All Bulls games aired on Bullscast Radio or CBS 1010 AM. Conference home games rotated between ESPN3, AAC Digital, and Bullscast. Road games will typically be streamed on the opponents website, though conference road games could also appear on ESPN3 or AAC Digital.

Roster

2017–18 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G/F 3 Jazzmaine Bond 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) So Blackman Murfreesboro, TN PG 4 Alba Prieto 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr   Seville, Spain G 5 Vanessa Blagmon 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr Norcross Stockbridge, GA G/F 10 Laura Ferreira 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Sr Escola Secundária De Santo André Lisbon, Portugal F 12 Maria Jesperson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Marselisborg Hojbjerg, Denmark G 13 Dorottya Nagy 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So PINKK-Pécsi Pécs, Hungary F 21 Shea Leverett 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS Fr South Effingham HS Rincon, GA G 22 Laia Flores 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Sr Institut Municipal Biada Mataró, Spain C 23 Tamara Henshaw 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) So Flagler Palm Coast HS Palm Coast, FL G 24 Enna Penhadzic 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) RS Fr None Denmark F 33 Kitija Laksa 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Rigas Francu Licejs Riga, Latvia F 34 Silvia Serrat 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr   Banyoles, Spain C 54 Alyssa Rader 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Horizon Thornton, CO	Head coach Jose Fernandez (Miami-Dade Kendall) Assistant coach(es) Jeff Osterman (Siena) Michele Woods-Baxter (St. John Fisher College) Jesyka Burks-Wiley (Boston University) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: October 9, 2017

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
11/10/2017* 5:30 pm	No. 23	LSU	W 61–55	1–0	USF Sun Dome (4,192) Tampa, FL
11/12/2017* 2:00 pm	No. 23	Houston Baptist	W 90–43	2–0	USF Sun Dome (2,022) Tampa, FL
11/17/2017* 7:00 pm	No. 22	Arkansas State	W 98–55	3–0	USF Sun Dome (2,276) Tampa, FL
11/20/2017* 7:00 pm	No. 17	Butler	W 71–55	4–0	USF Sun Dome (2,223) Tampa, FL
11/24/2017* 5:00 pm	No. 17	vs. Washington State Gulf Coast Showcase Quarterfinals	W 82–45	5–0	Germain Arena (1,207) Estero, FL
11/25/2017* 7:30 pm	No. 17	vs. No. 6 Notre Dame Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals	L 66–76	5–1	Germain Arena (1,537) Estero, FL
11/26/2017* 5:00 pm	No. 17	vs. St. John's Gulf Coast Showcase 3rd place game	W 68–59	6–1	Germain Arena (1,707) Estero, FL
12/02/2017* 2:00 pm	No. 17	at George Washington	W 83–78	7–1	Charles E. Smith Center (1,125) Washington, D.C.
12/09/2017* 3:00 pm	No. 16	at Oklahoma	L 74–79	7–2	Lloyd Noble Center (3,896) Norman, OK
12/15/2017* 7:00 pm	No. 22	Southern	W 108–48	8–2	USF Sun Dome (2,047) Tampa, FL
12/17/2017* 3:00 pm	No. 22	vs. FIU	W 82–52	9–2	Rick Case Arena (350) Fort Lauderdale, FL
12/20/2017* 8:30 pm	No. 22	vs. Dayton New Orleans Shootout	W 93–87 OT	10–2	Convocation Center (183) New Orleans, LA
12/20/2017* 8:30 pm	No. 22	vs. Michigan State New Orleans Shootout	L 73–83	10–3	Convocation Center (420) New Orleans, LA
12/31/2017 12:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 25	Tulane	W 75–46	11–3 (1–0)	USF Sun Dome (2,018) Tampa, FL
01/03/2018 7:00 pm		at Cincinnati	W 69–46	12–3 (2–0)	St. Ursula Academy Gymnasium (322) Cincinnati, OH
01/06/2018 7:00 pm, SNY/ESPN3		No. 1 Connecticut	L 49–100	12–4 (2–1)	USF Sun Dome (6,659) Tampa, FL
01/10/2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Temple	W 89–73	13–4 (3–1)	McGonigle Hall (702) Philadelphia, PA
01/14/2018 12:00 pm, ESPNU		UCF Rivalry	W 62–45	14–4 (4–1)	USF Sun Dome (2,370) Tampa, FL
01/17/2018 8:00 pm, ESPN3		at Memphis	W 81–62	15–4 (5–1)	Elma Roane Fieldhouse (454) Memphis, TN
01/21/2018 4:00 pm, CBSSN		at Wichita State	L 56–64	15–5 (5–2)	Charles Koch Arena (1,462) Wichita, KS
01/28/2018 12:00 pm, ESPNU		Temple	W 76–60	16–5 (6–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,080) Tampa, FL
01/31/2018 8:00 pm, ESPN3		at Tulsa	W 71–57	17–5 (7–2)	Reynolds Center (157) Tulsa, OK
02/03/2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3		at Tulane	W 63–53	18–5 (8–2)	Devlin Fieldhouse (775) New Orleans, LA
02/07/2018 7:00 pm		East Carolina	W 88–49	19–5 (9–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,009) Tampa, FL
02/11/2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN2		No. 13 Ohio State	W 84–65	20–5	USF Sun Dome (2,852) Tampa, FL
02/14/2018 7:00 pm, ADN	No. 22	SMU	W 64–54	21–5 (10–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,004) Tampa, FL
02/18/2018 12:00 pm, CBSSN	No. 22	at UCF Rivalry	W 77–68 OT	22–5 (11–2)	CFE Arena (3,550) Orlando, FL
02/21/2018 7:00 pm	No. 18	Houston	W 81–65	23–5 (12–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,223) Tampa, FL
02/24/2018 5:00 pm	No. 18	Cincinnati	W 84–65	24–5 (13–2)	USF Sun Dome (2,574) Tampa, FL
02/26/2018 7:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 20	at No. 1 Connecticut	L 53–82	24–6 (13–3)	Gampel Pavilion (9,115) Storrs, CT
AAC Women's Tournament
03/04/2018 2:30 pm, ESPNU	(2) No. 20	vs. (7) East Carolina Quarterfinals	W 80–44	25–6	Mohegan Sun Arena (3,392) Uncasville, CT
03/05/2018 4:30 pm, ESPNU	(2) No. 19	vs. (3) UCF Semifinals	W 74–59	26–6	Mohegan Sun Arena (6,033) Uncasville, CT
03/06/2018 5:00 pm, ESPN2	(2) No. 19	vs. (1) No. 1 Connecticut Championship Game	L 54–70	26–7	Mohegan Sun Arena (7,501) Uncasville, CT
NCAA Women's Tournament
03/17/2018* 1:30 pm, ESPN2	(6 A) No. 19	vs. (11 A) Buffalo First Round	L 79–102	26–8	Donald L. Tucker Civic Center (3,507) Tallahassee, FL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. A=Albany Region. All times are in EST.

Rankings

Main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Final
AP	23	22	17	17	16	22	22	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	18	20	19	19	N/A
Coaches	22	16	17	16	20	20	19	24	22	25	23	23	23	22	21	17	19	19	20	24

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
(RV)		Received Votes

See also

• 2017–18 South Florida Bulls men's basketball team