Women’s basketball: Pitt looking for first back-to-back Big East wins this season

The Pitt women’s basketball team earned its first Big East home victory on Sunday and looks to… The Pitt women’s basketball team earned its first Big East home victory on Sunday and looks to pick up its third conference win at Villanova tonight.

The Panthers’ 72-69 victory over Louisville featured the emergence of role player Brittaney Thomas, who scored a career-high 22 points in the victory.

For the Panthers to grab consecutive Big East wins for the first time in 2010, they will need Thomas and other players to take a lesson from the Louisville game and continue to step up down thestretch.

“Our comfort zone was being close and not just quite getting there, but we got it done today,” Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said after the victory over the Cardinals.

After the Georgetown loss on Feb. 10, Berenato said she started calling the sets in order to alleviate pressure on any one particular player during crunch time.

“Win or lose, we [the coaches] take the responsibility,” Berenato said. “I feel like that took a lot of pressure off everyone.”

As time wound down against Louisville, the Panthers felt like they were going to win, Berenato said.

After Pitt lost to West Virginia for the second time on Jan. 9, point guard Jania Sims said she was confident the Panthers would start rolling after they grabbed their first conference victory.

“Once we get that win, there will be no looking back,” Sims said.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, their first Big East win against Providence came right before facing off against undefeated and top-ranked Connecticut.

Despite showing some signs of offensive spark against the Huskies, Pitt fell 98-56 to Connecticut and then proceeded to lose three more times to Syracuse, No. 4 Notre Dame and Georgetown.

Versus Syracuse and Georgetown, mistakes and hesitance down the stretch cost the Panthers two victories. Against Syracuse, Berenato said the team played passively toward the end of the game, holding the ball for too long and not capitalizing on opportunities to score. On the last possession of the Georgetown game, a dismantled play forced Sims to take an off-balance three.

However, down the stretch against Louisville, Pitt found its way to the winner’s column because several Panthers looked like they wanted the ball in their hands — none more so than Thomas.

With six games remaining on its schedule, Pitt has the chance to finish 18-11 overall and 8-9 in Big East play heading into the conference tournament.

To do that, the Panthers will need players to take a cue from Thomas and step up in critical moments.

If the team does that, a string of season-ending victories, success in the Big East tournament and maybe even a NCAA tournament berth might not be out of reach.

First, however, the Panthers must knock off Villanova, a team desperate for a second Big East victory of its own.

The Wildcats notched their first conference victory on Feb. 9, defeating Syracuse 83-69. However, Villanova was unable to follow up that win with a second, falling 49-36 in its last game against Rutgers.

Villanova struggled offensively against the Scarlet Knights, shooting 30 percent for the game with only one player reaching double figures.

While Maria Getty scored 12 points, no other player on the team scored more than seven.

Getty leads the Wildcats in scoring for the season with 11.5 points per game, with Laura Sweeney the only other Villanova player averaging double figures with 10.2 points per game.

Getty, a senior guard, is a threat from beyond the arc and a standout defender. She is 13th in the Big East from three, shooting 36.6 percent.

A 6-foot-2 forward, redshirt freshman Sweeney is a solid rebounder. She can score inside and out, attempting 22 three-pointers so far this season.

Sweeney shoots almost 55 percent from the field, ranking sixth in the conference and leading the Wildcats in rebounds with 5.5 boards per game.

The Pitt-Villanova game will tipoff at 7 p.m.