Women’s Basketball: Pitt looking for first conference win

The Pitt women’s basketball team will travel to No. 21 DePaul on Saturday in pursuit of its… The Pitt women’s basketball team will travel to No. 21 DePaul on Saturday in pursuit of its first Big East win.

After a tough two-game stretch at home that included an 83-60 loss to Syracuse and a 63-39 loss to Rutgers, the Panthers are welcoming the chance to go on the road.

Head coach Agnus Berenato said the team’s play at Villanova on Jan. 3 — despite a 70-62 loss — gives the team confidence as it heads out on its second Big East road trip.

Redshirt sophomore Abby Dowd struggled to explain the team’s success away from Pittsburgh. The Panthers lost to Duke and High Point on the road earlier this season, but played well against Villanova and won the Caribbean Classic in Mexico.

“Thus far I think we’ve played better on the road,” Dowd said. “I don’t know why. [It’s] weird. When we go on the road, it’s almost like we’re a different team.”

She also attempted to explain the team’s inconsistency.

“Sometimes I feel like we just come out slow and dig ourselves in a hole, or we play a good first half and then the first five minutes of the second half is where we really shoot ourselves in the foot,” Dowd said.

The Panthers will need to perform well for a complete game in order to defeat DePaul in Chicago, as the Blue Demons are a perfect 8-0 at home this season.

The Panthers said they know they can compete — their win over reigning Big Ten champion Michigan State over the holidays shows as much — it’s just a matter of executing.

“We know we can [play well] and I think that’s what’s so frustrating,” Dowd said. “It’s frustrating to know how much talent you have on the team [and then not perform].”

The Blue Demons, who have been hit hard by a collection of injuries, lost to Providence 60-52 in their most recent game, but beat No. 18 Georgetown 59-50 the game before.

All-American Keisha Hampton and Taylor Pikes, last year’s Big East sixth man of the year, are currently sitting out with injuries.

Hampton, a senior, averaged 16.6 points per game before injuring her right knee against Princeton on Dec. 13.

Pikes, also a senior, hasn’t played yet this year as she continues to recover from her own knee injury that she suffered in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Offensively, the injuries haven’t spelled disaster for DePaul.

The Blue Demons still have three players averaging double figures. Junior Anna Martin is the Big East’s third highest scorer at 18.4 points per game, while freshman Brittany Hrynko and sophomore Jasmine Penny provide support with 10.7 and 10.1 points per game, respectively.

Pitt redshirt sophomore Ashlee Anderson stressed the need for Pitt to produce on the offensive end, as it has a positive effect defensively.

The relationship between the two means scoring is especially crucial Saturday night, as DePaul averages 76.5 points per game.

“We have to put the ball in the basket,” Anderson said. “We do a good job defensively, but you kind of get down on yourself when you’re making good stops, but you can’t score the ball. You start getting a little deflated every possession that you don’t score … We just need to just score the ball, take our time on offense and that’ll take care of a lot of our problems.”

Berenato also stressed the need to score.

In order to score, the Panthers have to work on maintaining possession. Pitt turns the ball over 19.6 times a game — the second worst average in the Big East.

DePaul allows the second most points per game in the Big East at 63.1, while Pitt allows a league worst 67.5 points per contest.

The first step to Pitt picking up its first conference win will be staying within striking distance. The Panthers’ last two losses have come by 24 points to No. 8 Rutgers and 23 points to Syracuse.

“We’re going to go in there and compete,” Anderson said. “We can go in there and say we’re going to shock the world and get this upset, but we just have to compete first. And that’ll be our biggest thing.”

Dowd agreed.

“At this point we need to focus on getting better every single game,” Dowd said.