Women’s Basketball: Pitt needs late run to defeat Seton Hill

A late-game 12-0 run spared a young Pitt women’s basketball team from an exhibition loss to… A late-game 12-0 run spared a young Pitt women’s basketball team from an exhibition loss to Division II Seton Hill at the Petersen Events Center on Friday night.

With the Panthers trailing 51-47 with five minutes to go, a jump shot from redshirt sophomore Ashlee Anderson started the Pitt run that eventually led the team to a 59-51 victory.

And Anderson wasn’t finished: She added five more points before the final buzzer, scoring seven of the team’s 12 points during the run. She finished with 11 points on the night.

With 4:05 left in the second half, freshman guard Brianna Kiesel scored a free throw to give Pitt its first lead — 52-51 — since the first half. The Panthers never fell behind again.

With such a poor night offensively, the Panthers relied heavily on their defense. The team generated 23 points off turnovers.

“That’s what won us the game in the end,” Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said.

When the team struggled to produce on the offensive end, Berenato said the coaches implored the players to rely on their defensive abilities.

“We asked them to turn it up a notch defensively,” she said. “We kept saying go back to your defense, go back to your defense.”

The Panthers did just that, holding the Griffins to just 19 points in the second half.

Despite the close call against a Division II opponent — the Panthers entered halftime trailing 32-28 — Berenato said she saw positives in the exhibition. The Panthers have six freshmen, three sophomores and three redshirt sophomores on their roster.

In a game that featured 12 lead changes and six ties, Berenato said she was proud of her team’s resilience.

“With a very, very young team, you don’t know how they’re going to respond, especially all freshmen and sophomores,” Berenato said.

Berenato credited sophomore Marquel Davis with igniting the team’s run.

“I thought Marquel really stepped up and got a couple critical steals,” Berenato said. “She turned up her defense … She was aggressive and she attacked the basket.”

Davis finished with a game-high 14 points and added five rebounds.

Kiesel ran the point for almost the entire game, playing for 38 minutes. She compiled 10 points, six boards and three assists.

“I was nervous,” Kiesel said. “I had a lot of jitters. It was my first actual college game … My teammates really helped me get through the game. There was a couple times where I was just in a lull. I didn’t know [what to do] … but my teammates kept me going.”

Davis agreed that many members of the team experienced bouts of nerves.

“We’d get a lot of jitters when we were down,” Davis said. “If anybody else put their head down there was always somebody saying ‘No, you got it. Keep your head up.’”

The Panthers shot atrociously from beyond the arc — going 0-10 — and shot 40 percent from the field overall.

But Berenato said some difficult games are inevitable given the team’s extreme youth.

“We haven’t had the time to play with each other,” she said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to take some lumps with it.”

She added that she wasn’t discouraged by her team’s performance.

“The biggest thing that I learned today was they stuck together,” she said.

With eight days until the scrimmage against defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions Hampton on Nov. 12, Berenato acknowledged the progress her team has to make.

“We have a lot of work to do, especially after tonight,” she said.

Tipoff for the season opener is set for 2 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center.