Pitt women return history

With a school-high 24-9 record last year and all five returning starters, the No. 20-ranked… With a school-high 24-9 record last year and all five returning starters, the No. 20-ranked women’s basketball team may prove to wow fans again this year.

The team finished last season in its first-ever run to the NCAATournament. The Panthers beat James Madison 71-61 in the first round, and fell to eventual-national champion Tennessee 68-54 in the second.

In their final exhibition game Sunday, the Panthers trounced the Ohio Legends 60-43.

Head coach Agnes Berenato said while the Panthers have a “very difficult schedule,” their philosophy is “Give me your best shot.”

The Panthers, who are ranked No. 21 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll and earned their first preseason AP poll at No. 20, will face 15 teams this season that earned postseason bids last year. Among these teams are No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Connecticut, No. 5 Rutgers, No. 7 Maryland and No. 26 Marquette.

In addition to facing tougher teams, the Panthers will also have a tougher selection amongst themselves. Last season, nine Panthers played. This season, 14 will.

“We believe in maximizing effort and rotating players in and out for an uptempo and defensive game,” Berenato said. “Last season we weren’t able to do that because we would have too many players in foul trouble, but now we have five more people to distribute minutes to.”

Most of those are returning players but there are five newcomers on the roster as well.

Senior center Marcedes Walker, who was unanimously voted to the All-Big East First Team last season earned 15 double-doubles last year, and has 37 in her career. She also earned the honor of WBCA District I All-America, Pitt’s first in 16 years, and she is just one of two Pitt players to achieve 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

All-Big East point guard Mallorie Winn will return this year as well – she was out all of last season when she suffered a knee injury in an early-season practice.

In her junior year she earned All-Big East Second Team honors, and finished with 523 points, 131 assists and had a .788 percent free-throw percentage.

If Winn moves to the shooting guard spot, sophomore Jania Sims may take her place at the point, which she did last season while Winn was out. She was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team last year, providing a team-high 152 assists.

Also in position for the guard spot is senior Karlyle Lim, who started in four games last season. Also, sophomore Ashleigh Braxton played in all 33 games last year.

Shavonte Zellous, last season’s Big East Most Improved player – improving her scoring average to more than 12 points – was also named to the All-Big East First Team with Walker. She was the team’s leading scorer with 19.1 points per game.

In the forward and post positions, Pitt is counting on junior Sylvie Tafen, who started 20 of her 32 games, redshirt sophomore Sophronia Sallard, who will start her first game at Pitt this year after a transfer, and 6-foot-5 Selena Nwude, who sat out last year’s postseason with a knee injury.

“I believe [Sophronia] is going to shock people,” Berenato said. “She has been such a pleasure since she got here and I truly feel she is going to take the Big East by storm.

One player not returning is Danielle Taylor, who averaged 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds a game.

In addition to the returning players, Pitt also has several promising freshmen, including Taneisha Harrison, who led the team with 10 points in Sunday’s game.

“Taneisha might be our best-kept secret,” Berenato said. “She is a very similar player to Xenia Stewart, and has upped her game significantly since signing with us. We are thrilled to get her out on the court.”

Harrison is joined by freshmen Ashley Henderson and Shayla Scott, daughter of former Panther Jennifer Bruce Scott. Pitt will also add one freshman forward, Chelsea Cole.

The women begin their regular season on Friday against Charlotte at the WBCA Classic in State College. They will face Arizona on Saturday and Penn State on Sunday.

The Panthers first regular season home game will fall on Dec. 5 against Ohio, and they begin conference play on Jan. 6 at DePaul.