Women’s basketball: Panthers fall to No. 21 DePaul

Despite 23 points from sophomore Abby Dowd, the Pitt’s women’s basketball team could not… Despite 23 points from sophomore Abby Dowd, the Pitt’s women’s basketball team could not pull off a victory over No. 21 DePaul.

The Blue Demons (15-3, 3-1 Big East) managed to overcome a second-half deficit and come out on top against Pitt (8-10, 0-5 Big East), 86-83 at the McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago on Saturday.

The loss leaves Pitt and head coach Agnus Berenato on a continued search for their first conference win of the year. While multiple players delivered strong performances against a DePaul team playing without Keisha Hampton, its second-leading scorer at 16.6 points per game, junior Anna Martin picked up the slack and posted a game-high 29 points for the Blue Demons.

“We came out shooting, and I thought our inside-outside game was there,” Berenato said. “It was a fabulous environment, and we had different kids step up to the plate. We were able to get Abby the ball tonight and she was able to shoot it. DePaul is a tough place to play, and while I am not happy with the outcome, I thought we really competed this evening.”

For the Panthers, Dowd’s performance was the story of the night. On the evening, she connected on 7 of 11 attempts from 3-point range and finished with 23 points on 8-12 shooting overall. Her seven 3-pointers made tied a school record.

Pitt’s leading scorer Brianna Kiesel, who averages 13.7 points per game, contributed to the contest without doing the bulk of the scoring. Kiesel scored below her average Saturday, tallying only 11 points on 3-12 shooting, but notched a game-high nine assists.

In the frontcourt, Pitt had two other players post double-digit scoring figures. Sophomore forward and Chicago native Ashlee Anderson scored 19 points and pulled down six rebounds. Another sophomore — Leeza Burdgess — scored 10 points and led all Panthers in rebounding with eight on the evening.

However, the strong performances of Martin and the other Blue Demon players proved too much for Pitt to handle. Playing without Hampton, Martin — the Big East’s leading scorer with 19 points per game — knew she needed to step up in a game that the Panthers pushed to the very last seconds.

Martin also came close to posting a double-double, pulling down nine rebounds to go with her 29 points, a tally higher than usual for the guard, who averages just 3.6 rebounds per game. Her total tied her for the game high, as fellow Blue Demon Katherine Harry pulled down another nine. As a result of her strong performance, Martin was named Big East Player of the Week on Monday.

“I wanted to focus on rebounding tonight. I just tried to play my game, and I thought the team played really well, even though we are limited on people we have,” Martin said.

Like Pitt, DePaul needed other players to step up and contribute, especially in the absence of Hampton. Off the bench, Megan Rogowski hit five 3-pointers to post 15 points. Jasmine Penny scored 13, and Brittany Hrynko added 11. Along with Martin, the three players made up over half of the Blue Demons’ scoring total Saturday.

“This game tonight is what we are looking at in the Big East this season,” DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said. “I am very proud of our magnificent seven to get us a win on our home court tonight.”

The Panthers will next travel to South Bend, Ind., for a matchup with No. 2 Notre Dame. The Notre Dame women (17-1, 5-0) have not lost in almost two months, and come into the contest Tuesday against Pitt on a 14-game winning streak. The Fighting Irish’s only loss this season came against No. 1 Baylor on Nov. 20, 94-81.