Panthers stay perfect in Big East play

Angel McCoughtry won the battle, but Shavonte Zellous and the Pitt Panthers won the war.

In… Angel McCoughtry won the battle, but Shavonte Zellous and the Pitt Panthers won the war.

In a matchup of the two top scorers in the Big East, McCoughtry emerged victorious in terms of points over Zellous, scoring 33 points to Zellous’ 14, but Pitt received some much needed contributions from Taneisha Harrison and Xenia Stewart to record a 76-67 victory against Louisville yesterday at the Petersen Events Center.

The crowd of 8,509 attended Pack the Pete for the sixth year in a row and cheered loudly throughout the victory, which was Pitt’s 10th consecutive win.

The annual event attracted fans with $1 seats.

Harrison led Pitt (16-3, 6-0 Big East) with a team-high 18 points and Stewart added 16 to help the Panthers come back from a 15-point deficit early in the game.

Five Pitt players notched double figures for the game, with Marcedes Walker and Mallorie Winn scoring 11 apiece.

Walker pulled down 11 rebounds as well to record her 11th double-double of the season.

Pitt coach Agnus Berenato credited her entire team for the important victory.

“I think Pitt has a great team,” Berenato said.

“We had a tremendously balanced attack today. We were ready for a dog fight.”

McCoughtry had nine rebounds and was 13 of 14 from the free-throw line.

Other than McCoughtry, Louisville (13-7, 2-5) only made 4 of 16 free throws.

The tandem of Stewart and Harrison frustrated McCoughtry often in the second half, and Pitt’s perimeter defense neutralized Louisville’s backcourt play. The Cardinals starting guards shot 1 of 18 from the floor.

“I thought we made a great defensive switch,” Berenato said.

“We’ve really improved on our defense this year.”

“We worked too hard not to win this game,” Stewart added.

Zellous came into the affair averaging 29.4 points per game in conference play, but scored the least amount of points since the game that started the winning streak, a win over Cal Poly. Zellous had 10 points in that win.

Pitt got off to a sluggish start and Louisville seemed poised and motivated from the beginning.

Louisville’s full-court pressure and gritty defense forced five Pitt turnovers in the first six minutes of play.

The Cardinals out-hustled Pitt down the floor and underneath the basket, jumping to an 8-2 rebounding advantage.

Walker went down with an apparent injury only 1:14 into the battle, and Pitt’s forwards could not stop McCoughtry or Chauntise Wright underneath.

Louisville scored the first six points of the game until Winn knocked down a 3-pointer 3:46 into the game.

But Pitt couldn’t muster much after that.

The Cardinals scored 15 of the next 18 points to take a 21-6 advantage.

The Panthers’ offense finally showed some life, scoring seven straight points without Zellous on the floor and going on a major run of its own.

Pitt went on a 22-8 tear to pull within one of Louisville, 29-28, with more than three minutes to go in the half.

During that stretch, Zellous finally connected on her first field goal, a jumper with 5:12 remaining.

In an odd sequence, Louisville freshman Keisha Hines committed two fouls in a few seconds to give her four in the first half.

Hines had four points and five rebounds at the time.

Winn had a 3-pointer bounce out with only seconds remaining in the half, and the Cardinals entered halftime with a 35-31 lead.

Zellous scored the first four Pitt points to start the second half, tying the score for the first time since the game’s beginning.

Stewart nailed a jumper the next time down the floor, effectively giving the Panthers their first lead of the contest, 37-35.

Then Winn tallied seven of Pitt’s 11 straight points to give the Panthers a 50-39 lead.

Pitt took its largest advantage on a Harrison shot to make it 58-45.

Louisville grabbed some of the momentum back, cutting the lead to 67-63, but two Harrison baskets sealed the victory.

“The crowd was great,” Berenato said.

“I don’t think for one minute ever that we thought about a loss.”