Women’s Basketball: Rutgers dominates, Panthers lose third straight

No. 8 Rutgers outscored the Pitt women’s basketball team by nearly 30 points in the paint on… No. 8 Rutgers outscored the Pitt women’s basketball team by nearly 30 points in the paint on Tuesday as the Scarlet Knights easily downed the Panthers at the Petersen Events Center.

Rutgers (14-3, 3-0 Big East) used a 40-12 advantage in the paint to defeat the Panthers 63-39. Pitt — still looking for its first Big East win — has lost three consecutive games.

“The locker room, I’m sure, will be a little icy tonight,” Pitt sophomore Abby Dowd said.

Pitt (8-9, 0-4 Big East) went nearly an entire half before managing any points inside. Brianna Kiesel managed the Panthers’ first points in the paint on a layup with 3:43 to go in the first half.

“It is frustrating,” Dowd said. “It is frustrating [whether] you have a lot of talent young or not.”

The Panthers missed 16 layups over the course of the game and looked completely overmatched down low. Pitt’s inside players combined to score a mere six points, and the Scarlet Knights outrebounded the Panthers 41-33.

“For the most part they were pretty open layups, and I think at the end of the day that just comes down to focus,” Dowd said. “So that’s just something that individuals have to be responsible for.”

Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said she was disappointed in the game.

“I don’t think you can beat anybody, much less a top-10 team in the nation, missing 16 layups,” she said.

Berenato struggled to explain the team’s inability to convert on such easy looks.

“We’ll find a different a way to shoot layups, I guess,” she said.

When asked when the team’s youth — the Panthers are the youngest team in Division I basketball — would stop being used as an excuse for poor performances, Berenato said she had already reached that point.

“I’m there now,” Berenato said. “I’m always there. You can’t just stay freshmen. You’re getting the minutes. You’re getting the time.

“Expectations are high, but you know what? That’s what Pitt’s all about. They don’t come to Pitt for me to have [low expectations].”

Pitt never led in the game and drew even just once, 4-4, at the beginning of the first half. The Panthers’ total of 39 points was the lowest for the team this season.

Dowd found her shooter’s stroke, going for nine points off 3-6 from beyond the arc, but her scoring couldn’t help the Panthers.

Sophomore Asia Logan — who averages 6.4 points — led the Panthers with 10 points, all of which came in the first half. Logan was the only Pitt player to reach double figures.

No Pitt frontcourt player scored more than two points.

Rutgers was led by its trio of Khadijah Rushdan, Monique Oliver and April Sykes, the three of whom accounted for 35 of the team’s 65 points.

Pitt failed to solve its chronic turnover problem, coughing up the ball 21 times. Rutgers made the most of Pitt’s turnovers, scoring 29 points off turnovers to Pitt’s 4.

Rutgers senior Rushdan — who led all scorers with 14 points — wasn’t surprised by her team’s ability to convert off Pitt’s mistakes.

“That’s what we do,” she said. “We get points off the defense. We’re a quick enough team to get fast-break points.”

Rutgers leads the Big East in defense, holding teams to 45.5 points per game.

The Panthers will try to pick up their first Big East Conference win on Saturday at DePaul.

“You don’t have time to dwell on it. You just have to move on,” Dowd said.