USF’s Elena Tsineke, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu named AAC Co-Players of the Year

© Angelica Edwards/Tampa Bay Times/TNS USF guard Elena Tsineke (5) and center Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (32) have been selected by American Athletic Conference coaches as the league’s co-players of the year.

TAMPA — USF seniors Elena Tsineke and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu have been selected American Athletic Conference women’s basketball Co-Players of the Year, becoming only the second and third players in program history to be so honored.

Chosen by the league’s coaches, the two join Wanda Guyton, who won the award for the Sun Belt Conference in 1989. Tsineke and Fankam Mendjiadeu were the only unanimous selections to the conference’s first team.

Bulls junior Sammie Puisis, a FSU transfer whose 108 3-pointers are third-most in a season in program history, was named AAC Newcomer of the Year and made the second team. Rookie Carla Brito (8.6 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) made the All-Freshman team.

Coach Jose Fernandez, whose 26-5 team finished 15-1 in league play, was bypassed for the Coach of the Year award in favor of East Carolina’s Kim McNeill, whose 20-9 team was picked last in the coaches’ preseason poll.

The entire list of postseason award winners can be seen here. USF is the top seed in this week’s conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

A first-team pick for the third consecutive season, Tsineke averaged a team-best 17.9 points and 3.2 assists, which ranked second on the squad. Her 28 points in Wednesday’s 85-55 triumph at Cincinnati was her 86th double-figure scoring game in 110 career contests for the Bulls.

Fankam Mendjiadeu, who transferred two seasons ago from Memphis, is completing one of the most dominant rebounding seasons in school — and American Athletic Conference — history.

She enters this week’s conference tournament averaging 16.7 points and 12.5 rebounds. Her 388 rebounds are nine shy of the program single-season record held by Alisia Jenkins, and 23 shy of the league mark held by former Connecticut star Napheesa Collier.

Her 23 double-doubles are two shy of Collier’s AAC season record.

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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