Weekend Sports Recap | Women’s basketball picks up first ACC win, wrestling falls short to Iowa State

Pitt athletics had a successful weekend during this winter season, with women’s basketball picking up their first ACC win and gymnastics dominating in the Backyard Brawl. 

Wrestling

Pitt wrestling (9-3, 3-0 ACC) came up just short of Iowa State (14-2, 6-0 Big 12) on Saturday night, losing 16-15. Despite the loss, 2,162 fans filtered into Fitzgerald field house to cheer on the Panthers.

Pitt split the 10 matches evenly with Iowa State, leading to the Cyclones taking the win via tiebreaker criteria. In the tiebreaker, the Panthers fell seven points short, losing to the Cyclones 51-44 in total points. 

Pitt got off to a hot start, sweeping the first three matches by decision. Junior Colton Camacho built off his successful performance against Virginia Tech last weekend, where he picked up a 44-second fall. This weekend, fans witnessed another dramatic Camacho win, as the 125 lb. junior narrowly defeated his opponent 3-1 in sudden victory overtime.

The Panthers held the Cyclones for the first seven matches and led by three points. But the Panthers’ lead began to slip, as No. 4 senior Marcus Coleman defeated No. 18 Reece Heller 10-5 to secure the Cyclone lead. 

The duel remained close till the end, as no match was won by more than four points the entire meet. But the Cyclones ultimately performed better, as the tiebreaker came down to total points scored. The Panthers will need to recover quickly, as they travel to Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday to take on NC State. 

Gymnastics

Pitt gymnastics swept rival West Virginia across the podium Friday night at home. The Panthers (6-6, 0-0 EAGL) posted their highest team score in program history during the Backyard Brawl victory, taking first in all four events and in the all-around. Pitt ultimately beat West Virginia 196.550 to 195.200.

Head coach Samantha Snider was happy with her team’s quick rebound, following their loss to Ball State last week.

“I am really happy with how our team bounced back from our previous performance on the road,” said Snider. “It was great to be back in front of our home crowd and be able to compete in the Fitzgerald Field House again.”

Vault was the first event of the night. Sophomore Sidney Washington and first-year Kennedy Duke both secured their first place spots with scores of 9.800. Duke’s performance was also a career high.

Next up was bars. Pitt’s sophomore Jordyn Ewing took first in this event, earning a personal best and near-perfect score of 9.950. During beam, no Panther scored under 9.750, with sophomore Hallie Copperwheat and first-year Reyna Garvey tying for first place. Copperwheat and Garvey tied for first again on floor as well, but Copperwheat ultimately took first in the all-around.

The Panthers will travel to Maryland on Friday for a quad meet at Towson.

Women’s Basketball

The Panthers defeated Virginia 60-51 on Sunday afternoon during their 16th annual Pink the Pete game, earning their first ACC win of the season.

The Panthers’ dominant defense ultimately helped them earn the win. Pitt was able to keep the Cavaliers at bay offensively, leaving them with an average of just 27% shooting from the floor. 

Along with their relentless defense, four Panthers scored in the double digits. Senior guard Dayshanette Harris, who scored her 1,000th point last weekend, added another 14 points for the Panthers on Sunday. Junior forward Liatu King, graduate student guard Channise Lewis and sophomore forward Maliyah Johnson also scored 10 points. 

Pitt played in many close games this season that it hasn’t been able to capitalize on, but the team’s consistency in this game gave them the win. Pitt held its lead from the first quarter and went into the half up by seven. The Cavaliers tied it up in the third, but Pitt was able to find its way into the paint to get some shots up. 

The Panthers travel to Indiana to face Notre Dame on Thursday.