Women’s Basketball: Continuing trend for Panthers is falling short late

Jania Sims’ 3-pointer tied the game at 63 with 2:46 remaining, and the Pitt… Jania Sims’ 3-pointer tied the game at 63 with 2:46 remaining, and the Pitt women’s basketball team needed a big stop and clutch basket to win the game.

On the other end, No. 16 Georgetown missed a jump shot and grabbed the rebound, but when the Hoyas missed another layup, Pitt’s Chelsea Cole grabbed the rebound and the Panthers headed in the other direction.

Seconds later, Pitt turned the ball over, Jaleesa Butler nailed a jumper and the Panthers never tied the game again.

“We hit a big three, we came down and we couldn’t get a stop,” Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said. “They had people that scored in crunch time and at the very end of the game, and we didn’t have that.”

Down by three, Pitt had the ball for the last shot in the game. But the play broke down, and Sims had to take an off-balance, 3-point shot that never had a chance.

“We had the opportunity at the end of the game. We called a timeout. We called a play. We knew what we wanted,” Berenato said. “We didn’t get the play.”

The scenario was eerily familiar for the Panthers.

Against Rutgers, Pitt trailed 48-46 with 1:30 remaining. On the next possession, the play broke down and Shayla Scott threw up a jump shot at the end of the shot clock that never grazed the rim.

“At that time, it doesn’t matter what happens. No matter what defense they are playing, somebody has to step up and take the shot,” Berenato said after that game. “It looked like nobody wants to take the shot.”

Rutgers closed off that game with foul shots.

At home against No. 9 West Virginia, the Panthers climbed within two points of the Mountaineers with 9:31 remaining.

Pitt forced a turnover, but with the opportunity to tie the score and grab the momentum, the Panthers turned the ball over.

“We were able to play defense and get a stop, but then we turned the ball over again,” Berenato said. “West Virginia came down and hit a three, and I thought that was a dagger for us and we never recovered.”

Déjà vu occurs every time Pitt needs a tough stop or a shot to take the lead or tie the game.

The Panthers have played well enough to keep up with some of the top teams in the conference, but they’ve also been sputtering in clutch moments.

“We preach to our players in practice that when you get a big play on offense, they have to get back and play defense without fouling,” Berenato said after the West Virginia loss. “Those are the things we have to realize that we can’t do. We preach this every day in practice and it’s going to start clicking soon.”

Against the Hoyas, Pitt revisited a problem it seemed to fix against No. 4 Notre Dame — turnovers.

The Panthers turned the ball over 10 times within the first 10 minutes, and Berenato said that’s where the game was won.

“You can’t win games when you have a turnover per minute,” Berenato said. “I thought we settled down and we played and we attacked and it was an even game the rest of the time. We beat them the second half, but we had a huge deficit in the beginning. They were 14 points up on us.”

Pitt finished with 20 turnovers, which is more on par with its 17.9 turnover average than the 10 the Panthers committed against Notre Dame.