Created on Thursday, 06 December 2012 06:06 Written by Dave Uhrmacher / Staff Writer
The Pitt women’s basketball team took care of the Loyola Greyhounds Wednesday night, claiming a decisive 57-47 victory. The win, the 158th for Agnus Berenato as head coach of the Panthers, ties her with former women’s basketball head coach Kirk Bruce atop the women’s basketball all-time wins list. The win also marked the 100th non-conference victory for Berenato in her decade here.
She and the team will have their first opportunity to break the coaching wins record at 2 p.m. this Saturday at Duquesne in the A.J. Palumbo Center.
“I have had 10 great years here,” Berenato said. “I am really not into those personal accolades. What is important to me is that our kids graduate and represent the University to the highest degree. We need wins. It’s about the team.”
In the fourth meeting in the series’ history, the Panthers improved their career record against Loyola to 4-0. The three previous meetings in 1993, 2010 and 2011 all resulted in Pitt victories.
Redshirt junior Ashlee Anderson sparked the Panthers with 11 first-half points. She also contributed to two separate 6-0 scoring runs in the second half, which put the home team in control of the game. She finished with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds for Pitt.
Anderson is highly anticipating Saturday’s game.
“Any added pressure would be that we just need to beat Duquesne,” she said. “We have lost to them the past couple years. It will be an exciting game. It is one of those games you look forward to.”
Katie Sheahin led the Greyhounds with 16 points.
Pitt’s perimeter defense looked much better than it has in past contests this season, as the Panthers held Loyola to 2-12 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half. Overall, the Greyhounds only managed to shoot a lowly 14.3 percent from 3-point-shot range and 30.9 percent (17-55) from the field.
Looking ahead to Saturday, sophomore Cora McManus said that, chance to break a record or not, the players’ desire will be the key to their success.
“Pressure is the wrong word. I think it is more determination. We just want to do it for our coach, and we want to do it for us as well,” McManus said. She chipped in six points and 10 rebounds. “We work hard in practice every single day [to] come out with a win.”
