USF Women's Basketball Drops NCAA Tournament First Round Clash with Tennessee in Columbus

The South Florida Bulls finished their 2025 women’s basketball campaign with a 101-66 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to the Tennessee Volunteers on Friday night at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

“The first quarter was probably really fun to watch on TV,” said head coach Jose Fernandez post-game. “Then you've got to hand it to Tennessee, they shot the ball really, really well. They made shots. The one thing, you're down one after a quarter, and I don't know how many turnovers we had in that first quarter, we had 10, and we go into halftime with 16, that's really tough.”

While the Bulls (23-11, 13-4 AAC) outrebounded UT 43-35, they conceded 24 turnovers under a constant 94-feet of pressure. Ten of those relinquishments were in the first quarter, while Tennessee gave the ball away just six times in 40 minutes.

In the final game of her career, USF guard Sammie Puisis finished with 28 points on 9-19 from the field, including 5-10 from three-point range, and added seven rebounds as well. “This year it was really special. I'm just so glad I was able to come back because some people have tough injuries, and it kind of takes them out of it,” said an emotional Puisis. “So I'm just really grateful for my teammates and my coaches and just getting to play on a big stage like this again.”

Sophomore forward L’or Mputu added 12 points and seven rebounds, while junior Carla Brito had eight points and eight rebounds. Grad transfer point guard Mama Dembele had nine points, six rebounds and three assists, but also led all players with seven turnovers.

The No. 5 seed in the Birmingham 3 region, the Lady Vols (23-9, 8-8 SEC) had 10 players record at least 12 minutes of playing time, often substituting all five players on the court to help wear down their thinner opponent. Samara Spencer led all Vols with 15 points on 6-10 from the field and five assists. As a team Tennessee was 16-37 from three-point range, with eight different players making a shot from distance.

“I think we got in their legs,” said first-year Vols coach Kim Caldwell, who won her first D-1 NCAA Tournament game following six Division II tournament appearances, including the 2022 national championship at Glenville State. “So I think just pace, wearing them down over time, got in their legs. They started to shoot the ball a little short. We turned up our pressure, and it kind of took off from there.”

This was USF’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, all under 25th-year head coach Jose Fernandez, and the ninth in the last 13 seasons. The Bulls finished as the American Conference Champions for the second time, but their No. 12 seed in the bracket was the lowest in program history.