Pitt upsets ND, falls to Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Pitt women’s basketball team isn’t quite on the level of the best team… HARTFORD, Conn. – The Pitt women’s basketball team isn’t quite on the level of the best team in the country just yet.

But how about on the same plane as the nation’s ninth-ranked team?

Different story.

The Panthers defeated No. 9 Notre Dame, 64-53, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament Sun., Mar. 9, before dropping their semifinal game against eventual Big East champion No. 1 Connecticut in the semifinals in the XL Center on Monday.

The win over Notre Dame marked only the second time Pitt (22-10), the Tournament’s fifth seed, has beaten the Irish in 19 tries.

Meanwhile, the Connecticut machine has won 11 of the past 13 Big East championships. The Huskies defeated Pitt, 74-47, to end the Panthers’ run and more than likely lock up the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Pitt will wait to find out where it is seeded when the women’s bracket is released tonight.

“We didn’t lose because Pitt played terrible, Connecticut is a really good team. There is no shame in losing to them. They are a big-time program, and they are the type of team we want to be,” Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said.

“We’re proud that we made it into the semifinals and for the things we’ve been able to accomplish this year.”

The Tournament opened with a 69-63 Pitt victory over Villanova.

The fifth-seeded Panthers took an early first-half lead and rarely looked back. Down the stretch, the 12th-seeded Wildcats posed as a defensive problem, but the Panthers were able to pull off a victory.

Marcedes Walker scored 20 points to lead Pitt, after finding out she was named a second-team all-Big East selection, not a first-teamer, despite being only one of three conference players to average more than 13 points and nine rebounds per game.

“I was worried about how Marcedes would react, but she was fine, which says a lot about her,” Berenato said. “Then [against Villanova] she was awesome.”

Overall, Pitt was strikingly similar, shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor and only committing five turnovers.

With the win the Panthers advanced to play Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

Day two of the tournament began with another Pitt victory, it’s biggest of the year, as the Panthers upset Notre Dame.

The Panthers were trailing by as much as 12 points midway through the first half, but fought back to make it a one-point game by halftime.

Two second half 3-pointers by junior Xenia Stewart helped the Panthers take the lead for good.

Walker scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds, as well.

“I thought our team, from the seniors down to the freshmen, had tremendous character and grit,” Berenato said. “And I thought [Stewart and Walker] were soldiers today, they carried us today and were as solid as a rock.”

The win put Pitt in a semifinal matchup against the winner of the DePaul-UConn game, as if it were any mystery which team the Panthers would end up having to play.

Pitt played Connecticut even for the first half in their loss to the Huskies earlier this season but didn’t fair quite as well against UConn in the team’s first semifinals appearance.

The Huskies dominated the game early, preventing the Panthers from building any momentum in the 74-47 loss.

Tina Charles scored a game high of 21 points accompanied by Renee Montgomery’s 15 points for the Huskies, even though it was the first time in 32 games that UConn freshman Maya Moore failed to score double-digits.

Junior Shavonte Zellous had a team high of 11 points for the Panthers, scoring double digits for the first time in the 2008 Big East tournament.

“While we are disappointed now,” Berenato said after the game, “we are really excited about going to the NCAA Tournament. “I know where I want this program to go, so we have higher goals than just making it to the NCAA Tournament,” Berenato said.