The Pitt women’s basketball team earned its first conference victory of the season today with… The Pitt women’s basketball team earned its first conference victory of the season today with a 72-58 win over the Providence Friars.

The Panthers leapt out to a 13-2 lead in the game’s first five minutes and opened up a margin of as high as 21 points before holding off a late Friars comeback.

Junior Taneisha Harrison fell one board shy of a double-double, pacing all Pitt players with 22 points and nine rebounds.

Pitt as a team outrebounded Providence, 60-37, and the Friars’ 17-point first half was the Panthers’ best defensive effort since a 12-point opening half against Mount St. Mary’s last month.

Senior Chelsea Marandola had 22 points for Providence, who dropped to 3-3 in the Big East and 12-7 on the season.

With the victory, Pitt ended its five-game losing streak that coincided with the start of conference play. The Panthers pulled themselves out from the pool of winless Big East teams, rising to 1-5 in the conference and 12-7 overall on the year. Villanova and Seton Hall remain the final two winless squads in the Big East — and they face each other next Saturday.

The Panthers next play a week from today, when they take on the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies at the Petersen Events Center. Connecticut has won 58 straight games.