Women’s Basketball: Sims scores 28 in Pitt’s loss to West Virginia

Despite 28 points from Jania Sims, the Pitt women’s basketball team lost its second… Despite 28 points from Jania Sims, the Pitt women’s basketball team lost its second consecutive game 63-59 against No. 22 West Virginia last night.

The Mountaineers (14-1, 2-0 Big East) used a 8-0 second-half run, highlighted by five points from Liz Repella, to break open a tied game in the second half.

With the score 51-48 in favor of the Mountaineers with two minutes remaining in the game, West Virginia’s Asya Bussie made a layup, and Sarah Miles added a foul shot to stretch the lead to six.

Shayla Scott hit a three to tighten the score to 58-55 with 32 seconds remaining in the game.

After Vanessa House missed one of two free throws, the Panthers (11-4, 0-2 Big East) pulled within two after a pair of foul shots from Sims.

However, Pitt was unable to pull any closer as they traded points with West Virginia for the remainder of the game. The Mountaineers went 4-4 from the line in the last 14 seconds to hold the Panthers at bay.

Both Pitt and West Virginia had scoring runs in a closely contested first half as the Panthers took a 24-21 lead into the break.

The Panthers used a 12-2 5-minute run to take a six-point lead over West Virginia after falling behind 12-10 near the 10-minute mark.

Sims scored seven consecutive points during the run to boost the Panther lead to 20-14. Shayla Scott added a foul shot and a jumper, while Brittaney Thomas contributed only two points of the half.

However, the Mountaineers fought back with a 7-0 run of their own to trim the Pitt lead to 22-21 with just more than a minute left in the first half.

Akeema Richards started the West Virginia run with a 3-pointer and Korinne Campbell followed with two foul shots, while Miles added a breakaway layup.

Pitt answered with a Chelsea Cole layup to boost its lead to three points heading into the break.

The Panthers held West Virginia to 25.8 percent shooting during the first half, but the Mountaineers improved as the game went on, shooting 50 percent in the second half, including 64.7 percent from beyond the arc. Pitt also shot better as the game ensued, hitting 40.7 percent from the field before halftime and 42.3 percent after the break.

Sims led all scorers on the night, with Thomas adding 11 points as the only other Panther in double figures. She scored eight of her points in the second half.

Cole contributed six points and pulled down 13 rebounds for Pitt.

Three Mountaineers reached double figures, with Repella leading the team with 16 points. Campbell and Miles added 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The Panthers will look to end their two-game losing skid when they return home against Rutgers on Jan. 10.