Women’s Basketball: Rutgers and Pitt face off looking for leadership

The Pitt women’s basketball team lost 13 straight games over 11 years to Rutgers before… The Pitt women’s basketball team lost 13 straight games over 11 years to Rutgers before finally defeating the Scarlet Knights 61-53 in overtime last season.

The Panthers (11-4, 0-2 Big East) look to build on last February’s success when they take on the Scarlet Knights (9-6, 1-0 Big East) at 1 p.m. in the Petersen Event Center on Sunday.

This season’s teams have something in common. Both Pitt and Rutgers are missing star players that guided their teams to the Sweet 16 last season.

Rutgers lost All-Big East Honorable Mention Kia Vaughn, while Pitt is without third team All-American Shavonte Zellous.

Following their senior seasons, both Vaughn and Zellous were selected in the first round of the WNBA draft. Vaughn went eighth to the New York Liberty, and Zellous was selected 11th by the Detroit Shockk.

Although Vaughn was drafted higher, Zellous had the better rookie season, averaging 11.9 points a game to Vaughn’s 4.8. Zellous was also selected to the WNBA All-Rookie team.

Now that Zellous and Vaughn have graduated from the collegiate level, both Pitt and Rutgers must adjust to playing without their veteran leaders.

Vaughn led the Scarlet Knights in rebounds (7.2 per game), blocked shots (1.9 per game) and shooting percentage (59 percent). Zellous led the Panthers with 22.6 points per game.

But Rutgers isn’t just without Vaughn this season. The team also lost last season’s leading scorer, junior Epiphanny Prince.. Last June, Prince, who led Rutgers with a 19.5 points per game scoring average, announced she was leaving college to go play overseas in Turkey. Prince is expected to enter and be selected in the 2010 WNBA Draft in April.

This season, Pitt point guard Jania Sims stepped into the role of leading scorer for the Panthers, averaging 13.9 points per game. Both Taneisha Harrison and Shayla Scott also help fill the void left by Zellous’ departure, averaging 12.5 and 11.6 points per game, respectively.

Sims accumulated 48 points in the Panthers’ first two conference games against Marquette and West Virginia, including a career-high 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting against West Virginia.

However, despite her scoring success, Pitt lost both games to open the Big East season. The defeats could stem from a lack of help for Sims on offense.

Only Brittaney Thomas joined her in double figures against West Virginia. Against Marquette, Sophronia Sallard reached double figures with 11 points.

The Panthers need to find the scoring offense that they brought to the court earlier in the season. Pitt averages 71.6 points per game. Against Marquette and West Virginia, they managed only 57 points per game.

Finding offense against Rutgers won’t be an easy task, as the Scarlet Knights are fifth in the Big East in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score 55 points per game.

However, Rutgers is also 13th in the conference in scoring, averaging 58.9 points per game.

For Rutgers, senior Brittany Ray assumed Prince’s scoring role.

She ranks fourth in the Big East in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. However, no other Scarlet Knights are among the top 30 scorers in the conference.

The Scarlet Knights struggled so far this season without Vaughn and Prince but started out the Big East season with a 60-57 victory over DePaul.

Ray scored 21 points in the victory, while backcourt mate Erica Wheeler added 12 points. April Sykes contributed a double-double off the bench with 15 points and 11 rebounds.