The Bearcats Woman’s Basketball team traveled to take on No. 12 USF Bulls. This game was scheduled to take place on January 30th, but was rescheduled as USF had a 30+ day Covid pause.
The Bearcats were neck and neck with the No. 12 ranked USF from the jump. One thing to note for tonight’s game was the return of junior guard Milan Schimmel for the Bearcats. Schimmel missed the last 10 games due to injury. Schimmel was a huge part of the Bearcats success in the first half as she entered off the bench and immediately impacted the game as she scored six points in the first half for the Bearcats. Having Schimmel back out there gave the Bearcats some more depth as they were plagued by injury as of late. Schimmel returning also took some of the pressure off senior forward Ilmar’I Thomas as she was getting triple teamed from the jump. Once Schimmel started scoring it allowed Thomas to get touches and get her looks as Thomas caught fire in the 2nd quarter as she scored seven of her nine first half points in the second quarter. USF got off to a quick start in the first quarter as Sydney Harvey scored a quick nine points on 3-of-4 shooting before going quite in the 2nd quarter. The Bearcats length on defense was really giving the Bulls some trouble as they just shot 30% from the field including 1-of-14 from deep in the first half. The first half of basketball consisted of eight lead changes back and forth between the Bearcats and the Bulls.
The second half continued as a back and forth battle as it came to the very end. The Bearcats scored the first bucket of the second half when Ilmar’i Thomas hit a jumper to continue her hot shooting. Then both teams went cold as USF didn’t hit their first field goal until 2:40 left in the 3rd quarter where they shot 0-of-10 from the field to start the second half. The USF Bulls stayed in the game by knocking down the free throws during that stretch. Despite the Bulls sluggish start in the 3rd quarter, the Bearcats found momentum as Caitlyn Wilson started getting hot as she erupted for eight points in the second quarter. The Bearcats took the lead into the 4th quarter before USF rallied back to send this to overtime. The 4th quarter Caitlyn Wilson continued her scoring as she scored all 18 of her points in the 2nd half. Wilson is showing her potential as of late for the Bearcats as she now has scored 23, 20,20,3,18 in the Bearcats last five games including tonight’s matchup. The Bearcats had momentum to the end, but unfortunately they got themselves in some foul trouble as guard Jillian Hayes fouled out early in the forth quarter finishing her night early as she was 4-of-6 from the field with 11 points and five rebounds. Behind Caitlyn Wilsons second half surge captain and leader Ilmar’i Thomas wasn’t going to let the game get away easy as she dropped another seven in the fourth quarter to help the Bearcats stay in the game down the stretch. The Bearcats just ran out of gas as USF found their groove at the right time and had an answer for the Bearcats late in the fourth quarter. The Bulls knocked down critical free throws down the stretch to keep them in the game, for as many people know free throws are crucial.
Overall, the Bearcats showed that they are very capable of playing with the best teams after tonight’s performance. The Bearcats were plagued with injuries all season and having junior guard Milan Schimmel back healthy for the first time in almost two months helped them on both ends of the court. This allowed pressure to be taken off Ilmar’i Thomas, allowed the Bearcats to flow more and get more people involved. They showed their resiliency and toughness in tonight’s contest as they battled all the way until the end but fell just short. The bearcats threw something at USF that they havent seen all year and that was a team like Cincinnati on defense as the bearcats have a tough, physical, lengthy defense and aren’t scared to play physical which the Bulls haven’t saw much of this season especially in almost a whole month off coming off a long Covid Pause I think the bearcats really caught USF off guard tonight. This game consisted of 18 lead changes, 10 ties and went back and forth all the way to overtime. The leading scorers for the Bearcats tonight were senior Ilmar’i Thomas as she finished with 23 points (tied for a game high), six rebounds and seven assists. The sophomore Caitlyn Wilson absolutely dominated the 2nd half and that’s where all 18 of her points came into play. Freshman Jillian Hayes finished with 11 points and five rebounds before fouling out early in the 4th quarter.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Saturday, February 20th at 2 pm when they welcome Houston to Fifth Third Arena.
