Pitt falters late in road loss at No. 8 Louisville

When freshman forward Yacine Diop drew Pitt within two points of No. 8 Louisville with 7:26 remaining in the game, neither she nor the rest of her Pitt women’s basketball team knew they wouldn’t score for another six minutes.

After that, the host Cardinals used an extended 10-0 run to close out the Panthers (15-8, 5-5 ACC). Louisville beat Pitt for the second time this season on Sunday afternoon by a score of 48-35.

Senior point guard Brianna Kiesel, who has led Pitt in scoring much of the season, finished with only two points on 1-of-13 shooting. In her place, freshmen Aysia Bugg and Stasha Carey led Pitt’s limited offense with 10 points apiece.

Both teams played stifling defense throughout, as Pitt shot 21 percent in the game and Louisville shot 31 percent, and combined for 31 turnovers.

While the turnover differential remained relatively even, Louisville took a stronger advantage of Pitt’s giveaways, scoring 15 points off of turnovers compared to Pitt’s two.

Louisville (20-3, 8-2 ACC) dominated the paint, getting to the free throw line 21 times (compared to Pitt’s six) and scored 30 of its 48 points in the paint.

While the Cardinals led for 33 of the 40 minutes in the game, it stayed close until the host team pulled away late. Louisville’s largest first-half lead was seven points, and Pitt led for the first five minutes of the game.

Senior forward Sara Hammond led the Cardinals with a game-high 11 points and 13 rebounds and posted the only double-double for either team.

The loss pulls Pitt’s conference record back to .500, and the team is now 3-5 on the road this season. It returns to the Petersen Events Center on Thursday to take on Virginia Tech.