Freshman Vittoria Blasigh leads the team in scoring, averaging 21 points per game.
Photo by Vanessa Wenzl | The Crow’s Nest.
By Vanessa Wenzl
The Yuengling Center is open again for the basketball season and the University of South Florida women’s basketball team is off to a start of six wins and three losses.
Head coach Jose Fernandez has been with the women’s team for 23 seasons — this season feeling different than past.
With injuries in the mix, the team is missing three of their key players already this season.
“We’ve had three or four girls out before and we’ve overcome that,” Fernandez said in post-game press conference against University of North Florida on Nov. 19.
As the season opened differently, the Bulls land fifth in the American Athletics Conference so far. The women’s team has played top SEC school Alabama University and competed in the 2023 Paradise Jam.
Although not every game has resulted in a win, the team knows where to improve on the court.
“For me, we have too much up and down in the game,” freshman guard Vittoria Blasigh said in a post-game press conference. “There are moments where it would be really really good but moments where we play really really bad.”
Blasigh currently leads the team in scoring with 114 points and is currently 12 overall in the conference for scoring. On top of her notables, Blasigh was also announced AAC’S Freshman of the Week after averaging 21 points a game.
Coach Fernandez said the team needs some developing in the locker room after the last close win 56-55 at home against the UNF Ospreys.
That development he refers to starts beyond the coaching and with the leadership in the players.
“If we practice really hard and the locker room is good, we’re going to see change in the game,” sophomore center Emma Johansson said in a post-game press conference.
The women’s basketball team will be back home on Sunday, Dec. 10 with a 1 p.m. tipoff against Gardner-Webb University.
