FORT WORTH, Texas – Top-seeded USF is headed to its fifth championship game since 2015 following a gritty 51-47 victory over No. 4 seed Tulane in the first semifinal of the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship on Wednesday evening at Dickies Arena. The Bulls, ranked number 20/18 in the major national polls, will face the winner of UCF and Houston on Thursday at 9 p.m. (CT) in the American title game on ESPNU.

 
Sydni Harvey, Elisa Pinzan and Maria Alvarez combined to lead USF (17-3) with 12 points each in the win against Tulane, and Bethy Mununga scored eight points and hauled in a tournament-record 18 rebounds. JerKaila Jordan paced all scorers with 22 points for Tulane (17-8), while Krystal Freeman tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
USF brought the energy out of the gate with layups inside from Harvey and Mununga for the quick 4-0 lead. Harvey drained a 3-pointer to keep the pressure on at 7-0. Pinzan extended the USF run with a corner 3-pointer of her own (10-0) before Tulane found its first points at the free-throw line. The Green Wave closed the first quarter with a made jumper from Sierra Cheatham to narrow the deficit to 10-4 after one.
 
Alvarez broke a scoring gridlock both ways with a deep triple early in the second quarter to extend the USF advantage to 13-6. A Freeman 3-pointer and coast-to-coast layup later and the Green Wave rocketed within two (13-11). Driving layups from Jordan and Cheatham of Tulane out of a timeout tied the game at 15-all before Jordan flew down the court with a steal for the go-ahead layup to force a USF timeout at 17-15. Jordan extended the run to 9-0 and then came up with a big steal to keep the Green Wave rolling (20-15). Tulane finished on a 12-2 surge to take a 23-17 lead to halftime.
 
It was more of the same for Tulane out of the break, as Freeman hit an open 3-pointer and Jordan went down the lane on the fast break for two more and a 31-23 Green Wave lead. USF was held scoreless for over five minutes before a Harvey 3-pointer and Mununga jumper brought the Bulls within five at 33-28 to end the third quarter.
 
USF raced back into contention with a huge 3-pointer from Alvarez 90 seconds into the fourth to pull the Bulls back within one (36-35). Alvarez then tied the game the next trip down the floor with another jumper from distance for a 38-all score. The Bulls retook the lead on a Mununga offensive rebound and putback with just over four minutes to play (40-38), but Tulane broke a near five-minute scoreless string to close within one at 40-39. Freeman drove around the left of the USF defense for a crucial layup that forced a Bulls timeout with Tulane in the lead 41-40. Great ball movement for USF found an open Alvarez for the go-ahead 3-pointer (43-41) with just over 90 seconds to go. Freeman extended the game with a contested 3-pointer with 14.4 on the clock to bring Tulane back with two at 47-45. Pinzan put the game away for the Bulls with two late shots at the line.
 
All of the latest tournament information can be found at Championship Central throughout the week by visiting TheAmerican.org/wbb.
 
2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship
March 8-11, 2021
Dickies Arena 
Fort Worth, Texas
 
First Round - Monday, March 8
No. 9 Wichita State 76, No. 8 Tulsa 64
No. 7 Cincinnati 78, No. 10 Memphis 67

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, March 9
No. 4 Tulane 83, No. 5 Temple 73
No. 1 USF 48, No. 9 Wichita State 44
No. 2 UCF 53, No. 7 Cincinnati 43
No. 3 Houston 73, No. 6 East Carolina 63

Semifinals - Wednesday, March 10
No. 1 USF 51, No. 4 Tulane 47
No. 2 UCF vs. No. 3 Houston - 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

Final - Thursday, March 11
No. 1 USF vs. Semifinal 2 winner – 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT (ESPNU)