Walker’s 23 leads women’s hoops to win at Villanova

The Pitt women’s basketball team just keeps on rolling.

Marcedes Walker scored 23 points and… The Pitt women’s basketball team just keeps on rolling.

Marcedes Walker scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Panthers coasted to a convincing 72-63 win last night at Villanova.

The win improved Pitt’s Big East record to 7-0, tied with No. 1 Connecticut atop the league standings. The win also increased Pitt’s win streak to 11 games, which No. 4 Rutgers will try to snap this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center.

Mallorie Winn converted on 4 of 5 3-pointers, adding 18 points to complement Walker’s near double-double.

The Panthers (17-3 overall) used a 7-0 run midway through the first half to push them to a 32-26 halftime lead. Pitt shot 50 percent from the field in the half. Walker led the way with 10 points and four rebounds. Winn added eight points of her own combined with five rebounds.

Villanova (12-7, 2-6) shot only 31 percent from the field and went 6-16 on 3-pointers in the first half. But the Wildcats came out of the locker room to the tune of an 8-0 run to go up by two.

Down by five with 13:32 left in the game, the Panthers used their own 12-0 run to go up by seven with just more than 10 minutes left.

Villanova closed the gap to six at the eight-minute mark.

Pitt used a 9-0 run to build a 15-point lead with just less than six minutes to go.

Laura Kurz’s 12 second-half points led the Wildcats in their comeback bid, and the Wildcats used a late 7-0 run to close the margin to five with a minute and a half left.

But Shavonte Zellous made a layup with one minute left to put the Panthers ahead for good.

Stacie Witman, the Wildcats’ leading scorer was held to 10 points, about three less than her usual. Kurz’s 19 points paced the Wildcats, whose bench contributed 10 points. Overall, the Wildcats finished shooting 39.7 percent from the field.

Pitt’s leading scorer Shavonte Zellous was held to 13 points, well below her average of 26.8 points per game.

The Panthers got 14-second chance points, 10 points off of nine Villanova turnovers and finished shooting 46.6 percent from the field. Pitt also out-rebounded the Wildcats, 39-33.

Pitt is now 3-0 in its last three games against Villanova, including two wins on the road.