Panthers Pink the Petersen, top Bearcats

On a day when the blue-and-gold came away with the victory, the game was really all about pink. … On a day when the blue-and-gold came away with the victory, the game was really all about pink. While the Pitt women’s basketball team defeated Cincinnati 68-53 at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday afternoon to reach 10 wins in the Big East and 20 wins overall, there was a much bigger story happening outside of the game. The theme was Pink the Peterson, an event that helps raise breast cancer awareness. The annual event, linked with Susan G. Komen for the Cure and UPMC Health Plan, covered the entire arena in pink. Game programs, Pitt’s uniforms and Cincinnati’s warm-up T-shirts ‘mdash; almost everything in the arena ‘- were pink. Even the scoreboard lights and Roc the Panther’s jersey changed colors. The Oakland Zoo, known for being a sea of gold, also switched to pink for the afternoon. The first 1,000 students to arrive received a free pink shirt. The majority of the crowd wore the color, while the band and cheerleaders traded in their blue-and-gold as well. During timeouts, a new face on the big screen reminded attendees of the importance of breast cancer awareness, including Robin Roberts of ‘Good Morning, America,’ a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2007. Pitt coach Agnus Berenato, assistant coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and the entire women’s basketball team were among the other faces to appear. The University donated $1 for every ticket sold to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for breast cancer research. The game was especially important to Pitt’s Sophronia Sallard, who lost her mother to breast cancer last year. She said she overwhelmingly supports the cause, but has learned to separate basketball from her emotions. ‘As emotional as I probably was coming in the game, I kind of learned how to separate the two,’ said Sallard. ‘I think I did a really good job of not faking it, but of separating.’ Sallard said she tries to remember the words her mother told her after sitting out a year at Pitt because of her transfer from Kansas. She told her mother how she was going to play this year and her mother said, ‘You better do something this year. You better go out there and play.’ ‘Just thinking about what she said, I know that deep down inside she was really serious,’ said Sallard. ‘ ‘ ‘ She takes care of her emotions after the game. Her teammates and Berenato are like family, she said, and they helped her to manage. While raising breast cancer awareness and money for research, the Panthers (20-5, 10-3 Big East) earned their fourth consecutive 20-win season. The game was definitely one that changed throughout, as Pitt shot 26.5 percent in the first half and 48.4 percent in the second half. Berenato said the Panthers were getting shots in the first half, but the problem was in their offense and their shooting. ‘I just think the ladies decided that they were going to attack,’ said Berenato. ‘We felt we needed to get our transition game going. We didn’t have our transition game in the first half. Defensively, we did a great job.’ The Panthers dominated Cincinnatti (13-13, 3-10 Big East) on the boards, particularly offensively where they held a 20-3 advantage. Senior guard Shavonte Zellous had 16 points and six rebounds on the game, while Xenia Stewart added 16 points of her own. Berenato credited Chelsea Cole for providing the Panthers with a second-half spark. Cole had six points and eight rebounds. The Bearcats received 17 points and seven rebounds from Jill Stephens and 10 points from Kahla Roudebush while dropping their ninth consecutive game. Pitt plays next on Tuesday, when it travels to Morgantown to take on West Virginia.