Pitt women struggle to find offense, lose second straight

Periods of dreadful offense proved costly as the Pitt women’s basketball team dropped its second… Periods of dreadful offense proved costly as the Pitt women’s basketball team dropped its second conference game of the season, losing to DePaul Saturday afternoon, 69-62. Losing an early second half lead, the Panthers (11-4, 1-2) couldn’t regain control when the Blue Demons (13-4, 1-2) capitalized on transition opportunities, free throws and rebounding. DePaul outscored Pitt 35-23 in the second half and didn’t look back. ‘Going into the game, we wanted to win, especially after the loss to Providence,’ said Pitt senior Xenia Stewart. ‘We were prepared, we just had poor execution.’ The Blue Demons scored the first points of the game with a free throw and layup by senior Natasha Williams. Then, after nearly three minutes without a Panther field goal, Pitt standout senior guard Shavonte Zellous took control of the game by driving successfully for the Panthers’ first points. Much of the first half was an exchange of baskets, with the biggest lead never exceeding four points. Pitt took advantage of DePaul’s lightly guarded inside, and freshman center Pepper Wilson continued to score easy baskets down low. But on the other end of the court, the Blue Demons scored, scoring constantly by shooting 46 percent in the first half. With both teams finding ways to score and knocking down free throws, the lead switched constantly. Eight minutes into the game, the lead had had been tied six times and changed seven times. With a little less than four minutes in the half and the game tied at 31, neither team could surpass the aggressive defense of the opposition to break away. Both teams were toe for toe thanks to Zellous’ offensive dominance. DePaul coach Doug Bruno was impressed with the way Zellous played and had to make an adjustment at halftime to keep her from taking over even more. ‘Shavonte got out of our transition in the first half,’ said Bruno. ‘So in the second half we let Williams guard her to hold her down better.’ In spite of defensive efforts, Zellous ended with 26 for the game. Defense wasn’t the only adjustment DePaul made in the second half. Mentally, the Blue Demons decided that they wanted to win. The Blue Demons took advantage of the Panthers’ inability to score and tied the game at 50 with 7:38 to go. A pair of free throws from Taneisha Harrison helped Pitt regain the lead, but a 3-pointer by DePaul’s Deidre Naughton put the Blue Demons on top, where they stayed for the remainder of the game. ‘This game became a must-win,’ said Bruno. ‘The first five of our six Big East matchups are against ranked teams. Pitt is a very good team and for our players to bounce back was huge.’Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said the offensive struggle for the Panthers is a problem that needs to be dealt with. ‘Our offense really hurt us,’ said Berenato after the game. ‘We have to have more offensive weapons than Shavonte. Down the stretch we also missed critical rebounds and free throws. You can’t win like that.’ In the last six minutes, the Panthers missed five free throws totaling 17-25 for the night. In addition to poor second half free throw shooting, Pitt failed to grab critical defensive boards, allowing Williams to get second and third chances down low. Williams lead all scorers with 27 for the game. Berenato says that Pitt will use this bye week to prepare for South Florida next weekend. ‘Any time you lose a game like this you’re concerned,’ said Berenato. ‘But now it’s back to the drawing board. We can really use this week to work on things like rebounding and scoring.’