Women’s basketball: Poor shooting does in Panthers

After two consecutive Big East victories, including an upset win over No. 14 West Virginia, the… After two consecutive Big East victories, including an upset win over No. 14 West Virginia, the Pitt women’s basketball team traveled with confidence to face Rutgers.

Yet, that recent success didn’t carry over Tuesday last night.

Despite the momentum from their recent success, Pitt trailed the entire game against the Scarlet Knights and ended up on the losing by a score of 54-42.

Though  while the final score seems to indicates a one-sided match, the Panthers (11-12, 3-7 Big East) were able to close in on the Scarlet Knights’ (14-9, 7-3 Big East) lead several times.

The Panthers managed to close out the first half trailing by only seven points, after being down by 14 just five minutes earlier.

A similar pattern continued in the second half as the Panthers fought back from deficit after deficit to bring the game to 42-38 with two minutes remaining.

However, a 12-4 run by the Scarlet Knights secured their seventh victory in the Big East, victory while handing the Panthers their first loss since Jan. 29.

Offensively, the Panthers struggled to find consistent scoring from their major contributors.

Senior guard Taneisha Harrison led the Panthers in scoring coming into the contestgame, averaging more thanover 14 points a game in each contest.

Harrison was recently named to the Big East Honor Roll for her recent offensive performances, but she was held to just eight points last night by Rutgers.

Fellow senior and forward Chelsea Cole was the only Panther to finish with double-digit scoring figures. Her 12 points led the Panthers and, coupled with her 10 rebounds, resulted in her 12th double-double of the season.

Cole leads the Big East conference in both double-double performances and in rebounds per game — she, averages close to 10 boards in each outing.

One area in whichwhere the Panthers failed to execute was from behind the 3-point line.  As a team, the Panthers converted just two of their 19 attempts for a 10.5 percent mark.

Senior guard Shayla Scott, who ranks fifth in the Big East in 3-point field goal percentage, was 0-for-5 in her long-range shots. Scott finished the game with nine points and five rebounds, second on the team in both categories.

Harrison leads the Panthers with her 35 three-pointers on the season, but was just 1-for-6 on the night.

In contrast to the Panthers, the Scarlet Knights generatedwere able to generate balanced scoring.

Sophomore guard Erica Wheeler led the team with 16 points. while April Sykes and Khadija Rushdan each had 13 points.

Rushdan also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists to complete a triple-double.

The Panthers will look to bounce back from the loss on Saturday as they take on South Florida at 2 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center.