Women’s Basketball: Panthers set to face No. 2 Notre Dame

After losing its closest Big East game this year to No. 21 DePaul, Pitt women’s basketball —… After losing its closest Big East game this year to No. 21 DePaul, Pitt women’s basketball — still without a conference win — will look to maintain that high level of play as it prepares to face the goliath that is the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish tonight.

While moral victories don’t truly count, a 86-83 away defeat to a ranked opponent will help the Panthers’ confidence against a frighteningly good Fighting Irish squad.

Notre Dame looks primed to return to the National Championship Game after losing to Texas A&M in the finals last year, 76-70. The team’s only loss so far this season came against No. 1 Baylor, 94-81, in November.

Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato expects the game to have a frenetic pace similar to the one the team experienced against DePaul.

“They get out and they run,” Berenato said.

She wants Pitt to do the same.

“We have to run the ball [and] get out in transition.”

Notre Dame will be returning home after a challenging stretch over which the team played four out of its last five games on the road.

“All the travel and flying — it’s been an ordeal in the training room for us,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said in a press release on Sunday.

For the players, maintaining focus is key to avoiding slip-ups over such a strech of traveling.

“It’s just a focus thing, executing the plan for the team you’re playing,” point guard Skylar Diggins said after her team’s win over Cincinnati on Saturday. “We’ve done that lately and plan to continue to do that.”

The Irish have had their way with Big East opposition, winning by an average of 28.8 points per game. The only team that challenged them was No. 3 UConn, who fought to a 74-67 loss in overtime.

On paper, Pitt (8-10, 0-5 Big East) doesn’t have much of a chance against Notre Dame. It’s the Big East’s best offense against the Big East’s worst defense.

Notre Dame (17-1, 5-0 Big East) averages 83.7 points per game. Pitt lets up an average of 68.8. Four players on the Irish average double digits: All-Big East guard Natalie Novosel averages 16.4 points per game, preseason All-American point guard Diggins 16.2, Kayla McBride 11.9 and Devereaux Peters 10.7.

The Panthers will need to put together their strongest defensive performance this season to in order to compete Tuesday.

To counter Notre Dame’s high scoring up-tempo attack, Berenato acknowledges that Pitt’s players will have to get back on the break and by doing so will sacrifice their presence on the offensive glass.

“We have to get back — that’s going to take away from the rebounding,” Berenato said.

Against DePaul, despite the loss, Berenato saw positives on the offensive end that she hopes the team can carry over to Tuesday’s game.

“We came out shooting and I thought our inside-outside game was there … and we had different kids step up to the plate,” said Berenato. “I thought we really competed.”

Pitt had four players score in double figures on Saturday. Redshirt sophomore Abby Dowd led the way with a career high 23 points while tying a program record for threes, connecting on 7 of 11.

Berenato said many of the looks Dowd got resulted from effective drive and kick play by the rest of the guards including Brianna Kiesel, who had a career-high nine assists, and Ashlee Anderson, who had 19 points.

Tip-off against the Irish is set for 7 p.m. in South Bend, Ind.