Women’s basketball: Marquette ends Panthers season in Big East Tournament

The Pitt women’s basketball team’s season came to an end Saturday afternoon at the Big East… The Pitt women’s basketball team’s season came to an end Saturday afternoon at the Big East Tournament in Hartford, Conn.

A narrow 63-60 victory against South Florida on Friday earned the No. 12 seed Panthers (15-18, 6-12 Big East) a second round match up versus the No. 5 seed Marquette Golden Eagles. 

But this time Pitt found itself on the losing end of a typically back-and-forth and tight Big East Tournament game as they fell to Marquette 65-61.

After falling behind by 10 early, head coach Agnus Berenato’s Panthers rallied and closed the first half on a 26-9 run to take a seven point lead of their own into the break.

“I’m really proud of my team because when we got down, it looked like it was going to be a blowout, but we were resilient,” Berenato said in a post-game news conference.

But just like in their previous game against South Florida, Pitt wasn’t able to maintain its advantage as Marquette (24-7, 11-6 Big East) chipped away at the deficit throughout the second half before eventually taking the lead for good on Courtney Weibel’s 3-pointer with 5:07 remaining.

“Pittsburgh played with passion; they played with so much desire,” Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said in an interview after the game.  “That’s what the Big East is all about.  They took it to us, but we were able to withstand their push and come back at the end.”

It will go down as the last time seniors Chelsea Cole, Shayla Scott, Jania Sims and Taneisha Harrison will play for the Panthers.  But they can hold their heads high knowing they kept Pitt in the game as the four combined to score 51 of Pitt’s 61 points.

“I didn’t want to go out this way, but I felt like the team worked really hard,” Harrison said in the news conference.  “We had them, but Marquette’s a good team and they came back.  This game hurts pretty bad.”

Harrison had 27 of those points and drained a career-high-tying five 3-pointers.

Cole, who finished with six points and 10 rebounds, also surpassed the 1,000 career rebounds milestone during the contest.

The Golden Eagles, who will now meet the No. 4 seed Rutgers on Sunday, were lead by Paige Fiedorowicz and Tatiyiana McMorris, who scored 14 and 13 points, respectively.

It was the second time this season Pitt and Marquette played a game that went down to the wire.  On Jan. 29 at the Petersen Events Center, 40 minutes weren’t enough to separate the two teams as Marquette edged a 74-70 game in overtime.

Saturday’s loss leaves the Panthers with a final record of 15-18, which means they don’t qualify for postseason play.