Pitt earns win in first matchup against Binghamton, winning 73-62

Pitt (4-5, 0-0 ACC) triumphed over Binghamton (2-7, 0-0 AEC) 73-62 in their first face-off in program history at the Petersen Event Center Sunday afternoon.

Pitt head coach Tory Verdi was proud of his team’s effort Sunday night. 

“We stayed together when we faced adversity,” said Verdi. “And we made it happen.” 

At the start, the Panthers put the first points on the board. But the Bearcats quickly reciprocated with some of their own. Within a minute Binghamton doubled Pitt’s score after sophomore forward Camryn Fauria made her jump shot and redshirt sophomore guard Ella Wanzer sank her three-pointer. 

The Panthers stuck to a zone defense despite the Bearcats’ sharp shooting from outside of the paint. The Panthers went to the bench at the end of the first quarter down, 22-14. 

The Panthers’ difficulty in the first quarter was their shooting percentage. They were 5-16 in the while the opposers went 8-15. 

That changed in the second quarter when the Panthers found their momentum. It started similar to the first with a Bearcat basket, extending the Panthers’ deficit to ten. However, senior forward Liatu King cut it down to five with back-to-back baskets paired with a free throw by sophomore guard Marley Washentiz. 

At the first timeout of the quarter Pitt was down, 29-21. After the timeout, Pitt cut the Bearcats’ lead to four thanks to King’s 14th point of the game. This created momentum for the Panthers, and various players contributed to cutting down Binghamton’s lead.  

Verdi commended his team’s performance in the second quarter.

“We were able to fight our way back through the second period,” Verdi said. “I thought we did a really good job of executing on the ball side. Players did a great job of getting our post players the ball.”

The Panthers’ comeback continued when graduate student forward Jala Jordan sank her lay-up and got fouled in the process. Jordan made her free throw with a minute to go in the first half. Similarly, with just six seconds left, sophomore guard Aislin Malcolm drove up the lane and made a shot despite the foul. Malcolm came through at the line as well and the Panthers took the lead 35-34 going into the locker rooms.

Pitt and Binghamton seemed to trade shooting trends by the end of the second quarter. The Panthers went 9-15 while the Bearcats went 5-16. Pitt nearly doubled Bingham’s points and won the quarter 21-12.

The start of the second half included five points from Malcolm in the first two minutes of the third, extending Pitts’s lead to 40-37. Malcolm did whatever she had to to get shots for her team.

“A lot of people know me as a shooter,” Malcolm said. “Going into this game I knew our game plan and I knew in order for us to win we had to attack the hoop, so I would do whatever I could to get to the basket.”

However, the Bearcats cut the Panther’s lead with back-to-back layups in the sixth minute to tie up the game, 44-44. The Panthers took the lead with every offensive opportunity they got and Binghamton relentlessly played a game of catch-up. 

With less than three minutes in the third quarter, Binghamton caught up. Bearcat first-year guard Kaylee Kryzstoff drained back-to-back three-pointers which took the lead and the Panthers went into the final quarter down, 54-50.

King earned her 20th point in the first 15 seconds of the final quarter. After, Malcolm earned her 14th and 16th points of the game after a layup off of a Binghamton turnover. These two crucial baskets allowed the Panthers to take a 56-54 lead. The Panthers used this momentum to extend their lead to eight.

With two minutes to go, the Bearcats picked up their 15th foul and Pitt junior forward Rapuluchi Ayodele picked up the free throw to extend their lead to 64-54. 

In the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the Bearcats found themselves in foul trouble. With this, the Panthers were able to extend their lead on the free-throw line, 73-62. 

The horn sounded for the end of the game and the Panthers took the win over Binghamton in their first match-up in program history. 

The Panthers will return to the Petersen Events Center next Sunday in another home game against Lehigh.