Women’s Basketball: After sweeping tournament, Panthers travel to Youngstown State

Balanced scoring proved important for the Pitt women’s basketball team, as it defeated… Balanced scoring proved important for the Pitt women’s basketball team, as it defeated Appalachian State and Marshall to win its annual Thanksgiving Tournament over the holiday break.

The Panthers (5-0) look to continue their equal attack when they travel to Youngstown State tonight to take on the Penguins (0-6) at 7:05 p.m. in their first game away from the Petersen Events Center all year.

Jania Sims, Chelsea Cole and Shayla Scott were named to the All-Tournament Team, with Sims also earning the tournament MVP.

“Jania Sims deserved MVP, but Shayla Scott and Chelsea Cole were fabulous,” head coach Agnus Berenato said. “It’s a compliment that all of the coaches voted for three players from the University of Pittsburgh.”

Sims scored 14 points and racked up six assists against Marshall, while scoring 16 and dishing out four assists against Appalachian State.

Scott notched a double-double against Appalachian State, with a career-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. She added 11 points against Marshall.

“I’ve been struggling the past couple of practices and not feeling as confident in myself,” Scott said following the victory over Appalachian State. “I took a deep breath before the game and realized that what is in the past is in the past. I need to have confidence and knock down shots and to get rebounds and assists.”

Cole followed Scott’s double-double with one of her own against Marshall, when she scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. She almost reached a double-double against Appalachian State, with 10 points and nine boards.

While leading scorer Taneisha Harrison struggled against Appalachian State with nine points on 4-of-17 shooting, she came back to lead the Panthers with 15 points against Marshall.

“She saw the opportunity to be aggressive,” Berenato said. “We look to her to be a scorer. I was happy to see her bounce back.”

Youngstown State returns one starter and five letter winners from last year’s team, which finished 3-27 overall and 1-17 in the Horizon League.

Four of the five returning players and five of the eight Penguin newcomers are members of the backcourt, so the Penguins find most of their depth in the guard positions.

Sophomore guard Macey Nortey is the only returning starter for Youngstown State. She started 25 games last season, while averaging 5.6 points in 26.8 minutes per game.

Junior Bojana “Boki” Dimitrov, a transfer from Carl Albert State College, averaged 10 points and 4.5 assists as a sophomore point guard for the Vikings.

The Penguins have only three true post players on their roster, including senior Rachael Manuel.

Not only is Manuel the most experienced frontcourt presence for the Penguins, she’s also the veteran leader of the squad, having played in 85 games while averaging 1.9 points and 2.1 rebounds.

6-foot-3 Manuel is the tallest Penguin, the next tallest being freshman forward Kaitlin Rohrs, at 6 feet 1 inch, who hasn’t played at all this season. Fellow freshman Brandi Brown is the only other frontcourt player for Youngstown State, standing at 5 feet 11 inches. She’s the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 9.8 boards per game. Of Brown’s 59 total rebounds this season, 26 have come on the offensive side of the floor.

With such a depleted frontline, the Panthers could use their size to dominate down low. Led by 6-foot-6 center Shawnice “Pepper” Wilson, 6-foot-5 center Selena Nwude and 6-foot-3 forward Kate Popovec, the Panthers tower over the Penguins. Pitt also has three more players on its roster who are at least 6 feet tall.

In the Panthers’ five games this year, they’ve only been out-rebounded twice. St. Francis hauled in one more rebound and Appalachian State brought down six more missed shots than Pitt. Youngstown State is getting out-rebounded by 9.8 rebounds per game this year.

Youngstown State is currently on a season-long, six-game losing streak, including a 70-51 loss to Weber State on Saturday. The closest final score so far this year for the Penguins is a 76-67 loss at Louisiana-Monroe. Every other loss has been by at least 12 points.

Nortey led the Penguins with 15 points and six assists in the loss, while Manuel added 11 points and six rebounds.

Dimitrov contributed eight points.

Youngstown State shot 35.1 percent against Weber State, including 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Last season, the Panthers defeated Youngstown State 99-42 in the Thanksgiving Tournament.