Women’s Basketball: Pitt falls in overtime

On a night when the Pitt women’s basketball team did so many things right, the issue that has… On a night when the Pitt women’s basketball team did so many things right, the issue that has plagued the Panthers the most this season — turnovers — proved to be their downfall.

Pitt (8-17, 0-12 Big East) turned the ball over 21 times, compared to just nine turnovers for the Cardinals. Louisville (19-7, 8-5 Big East) capitalized on the opportunities, scoring 18 points off Pitt’s mistakes en route to a 71-66 win at the Petersen Events Center Tuesday night.

The Panthers’ 12-game losing streak is their longest under head coach Agnus Berenato, and no Berenato-coached team has ever failed to win at least two games in the Big East. The 2002-2003 team went 2-15 in conference play.

With just four games left on the schedule, Pitt is in danger of setting a new mark.

Pitt managed to build a seven-point lead in the second half, but the Panthers let the advantage slip away.

Pitt guard Brianna Kiesel — who finished the game with 22 points — said it was a mistake for her to try and slow the game down with three minutes left in the contest and the Panthers holding on to a lead.

“I’m a freshman and it was a freshman mistake,” Kiesel said. “I should’ve kept us going, because that’s what we were going for — the game and scoring. And once I started slowing the ball down, we started getting turnovers and they scored on us.”

Berenato agreed.

“We were attacking and all of a sudden we looked tentative,” Berenato said. “We didn’t have anyone that took over for that one minute, and it really hurt us.”

Kiesel hit a baseline jumper off the inbounds as the shot clock expired to give the Panthers a 53-46 lead with 5:02 left in the game.

But Louisville battled back and, with two minutes left in the game, Louisville sophomore point guard Shoni Schimmel hit an NBA-distance 3-pointer and knotted the game at 55.

Pitt center Leeza Burdgess — who finished with seven points and seven rebounds — regained the lead for the Panthers when she scored a layup and hit an ensuing foul shot to make the score 58-57 with 1:22 left in the game.

Louisville tied the game with one foul shot, and then Pitt’s Kyra Dunn was fouled on the next possession and made the score 60-58.

With 26.9 seconds left in the game, Louisville took over possession and responded with an Antonita Slaughter jumper to make the score 60-60.

With 17 seconds to go, Kiesel held the ball in the backcourt and let the clock run to eight seconds before she drove to the right, muscling her way into the lane where she released a floater in traffic. But the shot hit iron and, despite their earlier second-half lead, the Panthers went into overtime.

“She gave me the right side,” Kiesel said. “I’m right-handed and I had a clear way to the basket. I thought it was going in, but it just rimmed off on me.”

With both Burdgess and Ashlee Anderson playing with just one foul to give, Pitt seemed to be caught between playing aggressive defense — and risk losing two of its most effective players — or playing conservatively.

The team appeared to choose the latter, playing pedestrian defense in overtime as Louisville went 4-5 from the field on all layups and 3-4 from the line in the extra period.

Anderson — who scored 22 points with the Panthers — went 1-4 from the foul line in overtime and finished 3-6 from the foul line for the game.

“They sent me to the line, and especially in overtime. And it’s something I have to do,” she said. “My mindset for the next game is to make my free throws.”

The pressure Pitt had easily navigated in regulation flustered the Panthers in overtime. Dunn threw an errant pass over the head of Kiesel with two minutes left and Louisville leading 67-66.

With the score 69-66, the Panthers had a chance to tie the game with just more than 30 seconds left in overtime, but Kiesel’s close-range effort along the right baseline hit rim, giving Louisville possession with 30 seconds left.

Needing to foul, Anderson’s sent Becky Burke to the line. Burke made the pair to push the score to 71-66 and seal the game for the Cardinals.

“Hallelujah,” a Louisville player yelled while going down the tunnel.