Women’s basketball: Pitt loses another heartbreaker, remains winless in Big East

Another home game for the women’s basketball team and another heartbreaking loss in the final minutes.

The Panthers fought back from a 15-point first-half deficit and had the Georgetown Hoyas on the ropes Saturday at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt was seconds away from breaking its 32-game regular-season conference losing streak. But in this game, being on the wrong side of the score when the clock hits zero means another tally in the loss column.

Pitt (9-17, 0-13 Big East) dropped its 13th-straight Big East regular-season game Saturday in an agonizing 72-70 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas. Entering the game, Pitt hoped to avenge a 69-57 loss to Georgetown from Jan. 26 at the Verizon Center, but the Hoyas (14-12, 5-8 Big East) refused to let the Panthers climb back into the game after building an early lead.

Saturday’s game coincided with the sixth annual Pink the Pete event, an effort to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. The Panthers and head coach Agnus Berenato hosted the event, in which $1 from each $10 ticket — the price including lunch and the game — went toward the Pittsburgh affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Fund. A season-high 3,090 turned out for the event, including 1,000 students who received free pink Oakland Zoo shirts upon entrance.

“It is a cause extremely, extremely close to my heart, and I am very passionate about it. It just goes to show the unbelievable impact that this team has on people,” Berenato said after the game. “And it was a great game, we had a great crowd. The Pitt community came out in full force today, and it was really great to see. I was happy the players had the opportunity to play in front of a crowd like that.”

Following the Pink the Pete luncheon, the crowd filled their seats for what turned out to be a very entertaining bout between the two squads. This game marks the last time they will play each other in the regular season as Big East foes before Pitt transitions to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The gameplay started out on a fast note, with Pitt claiming the early advantage. A beautiful finish at the basket on a 3-on-1 from sophomore guard Brianna Kiesel gave Pitt the abbreviated 10-9 lead at 14:18 in the first half.

But following the Kiesel transition basket, the Hoyas responded with a 16-0 run over the next seven minutes that exposed Pitt’s most critical weakness: rebounding. The Hoyas used their distinct size advantage — beginning with center Sydney Wilson (6-foot-6) — to out-rebound and outscore Pitt in the paint by a 16-10 margin in the first half.

Senior guard Sugar Rodgers — the Big East’s leading scorer — led the charge early and often for Georgetown. The potential Big East Player of the Year shined as she scored eight of her 23 total points in the first half.

The Panthers’ late first-half push brought the score back to 30-28, and Kiesel was positioned at line for a 1-and-1 with a chance to tie the game. She missed the front end, and the Hoyas scored the next five points over the final minute of the half, sending Pitt into the locker room down 35-28.

Junior forward Asia Logan finished the first half leading Pitt with 11 points on 5-for-12 shooting, an improvement from her past few games, during which she struggled mightily from the field.

“My teammates found me open, and I was able to knock down open shots,” Logan said. “I focused on being pretty aggressive too. Also, my grandmother beat breast cancer, so that gave me a little extra drive to play today.”

A 5-0 run out of the gate at halftime for Georgetown gave the Hoyas what seemed like a comfortable 12-point lead, but the Panthers had other thoughts about the outcome of this game.

“We were determined today to attack,” Logan said. “We put an emphasis on that today. We were able to knock down shots and play good defense for most of the game.”

The Panthers roared back midway through the second half as Kiesel teamed up on a give-and-go with redshirt freshman Loliya Briggs to bring Pitt back within three points with 13 minutes remaining.

A Kiesel 3-point shot from long distance connected at 12:07 of the second half to give the Panthers their first lead since the score was 10-9. Rodgers quickly answered on the next possession with a three of her own from deep, giving Georgetown a 46-44 lead.

Loliya Briggs and Logan followed soon after with 3-point shots of their own, sending the Petersen Events Center into a frenzy as the Panthers held their biggest lead thus far at 52-48.

The Rodgers-led Hoyas battled back, with the two teams exchanging the lead frequently. Rodgers — a three-time All-Big East selection — was 5-of-9 from beyond the arc on the day.

“[Rodgers] is a great player, and after the game she gave me a compliment that I played good defense,” junior guard Ashlee Anderson said. “I think it was a challenge that I wanted to take for this team. It helps me see what I can do against other teams’ best players and doing whatever I can do to help this team get victories.”

The Panthers continued to live and die by the 3-point shot, but it seemed as though almost every attempt they threw up in the final five minutes of play went in. A 3-pointer from Anderson at 2:56 gave Pitt a five-point lead and was Pitt’s eight 3-pointer on the day — a season high.

With less than one minute to go, the Panthers had an opportunity to take the lead after two Georgetown free throws knotted the score at 70.

The Panthers turned the ball over with 40 seconds left and squandered a precious opportunity to take the lead.

The Hoyas came down and had the ball in the hands of their best player, Rodgers, with an opportunity to win the game as time expired. She penetrated and threw up a heavily contested shot that was off the mark. As a mix of pink and blue jerseys scrambled for the ball, the whistle blew as a referee spotted a foul on Pittsburgh’s Krista Pettepier with only 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation.

Andrea White stepped to the line for two shots and sank both clutch free throws to seal the victory for Georgetown.

Logan finished with a team-high 21 points for Pitt, followed by Kiesel’s 18- and Anderson’s 15-point performances, respectively. Logan’s 16 rebounds were a career high.

The Hoyas have the appearance of a group with the potential to make a run into the later rounds of the Big East tournament. With the conference’s leading scorer (Rodgers), a legitimate post presence (Wilson) and a formidable group of complementary players, Georgetown has the potential to give some teams problems.

The Panthers might have an opportunity to knock Georgetown off once more though, as a potential first round matchup in the Big East Tournament looms only two weeks from now.

“They are a good team, and I like playing against them because they are so competitive,” Anderson said after the game. “It came down to the last second, one possession. So we will go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to do it next time and get the win.”

The Panthers resume play Tuesday evening when they travel to Storrs, Conn., to take on the No. 3 Connecticut Huskies at 7 p.m.