WVU drops women’s hoops

The Pitt women’s basketball team is finding that one player having a monster game just isn’t… The Pitt women’s basketball team is finding that one player having a monster game just isn’t always enough for a win. Not in the Big East conference, anyway.

For the second consecutive game, Marcedes Walker put together a strong double-double. Like in last Saturday’s loss to No. 4 Connecticut, though, the Panthers got little offensive production elsewhere, and the result proved to be similar – this one a 57-46 home loss to rival West Virginia Tuesday night, a game which the Panthers never led.

“I just think it was a really tough loss,” Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said. “I felt like we were well-prepared, but we just didn’t execute the preparation. When you don’t execute your preparation, you’re probably not going to beat a team like West Virginia.

“Marcedes tried to carry the team, she really battled tonight.”

The 6-foot-3 Walker dominated the smaller Mountaineers inside, scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end, to keep the cold-shooting Panthers in the game as long as she could.

It turns out that when the rest of your team makes only seven field goals, that isn’t a very long time.

The rest of the Panthers shot a combined seven-for-45 (15.5 percent), including a nightmarish one-for-15 night from leading scorer Shavonte Zellous. The Big East’s third-leading scorer coming into the game, Zellous scored Pitt’s first bucket four minutes in, but watched her next half-dozen shots go in and out, graze the side of the rim or roll around before falling out of the cylinder.

Her frustration became evident when she picked up an offensive foul while trying to create a shot at the first half’s 5:27 mark.

West Virginia’s Britney Davis-White immediately hit a wide-open jumper on the other end and the Mountaineer lead reached double figures at 24-13. The lead stayed in double-digits for most of the game as Pitt (20-7 overall, 8-6 Big East) struggled with the Mountaineers’ speedy 2-3 zone, ending with more first-half turnovers (10) than made field goals (nine).

“Compliments to West Virginia’s defense,” Berenato said. “You can’t shoot 13-for-54 and win.”

The Mountaineers (18-9, 9-5) won for the ninth time in 11 games, further contributing to the team’s turnaround. West Virginia started Big East play 0-3 with blowout losses to the top two teams in the league and then dropped a double-overtime decision to Villanova, which is the Wildcats’ only conference win all season.

Since then, Mike Carey’s team has defeated South Florida, DePaul and Pitt. The Mountaineers even redeemed themselves with a home win over Villanova one month ago. The win propels West Virginia into a tie with No. 19 Louisville for fourth place in the conference.

LaQuita Owens, who ranks in the top 10 nationally in 3-point field goals made per game, led West Virginia with 19 points, hitting five of her nine 3-point attempts. In all, the Mountaineers hit eight of their 18 3-point attempts while Pitt shot a dismal one-for-eight from 3-point land.

The game had the intensity one might expect from two teams who started the night in a four-way logjam for fourth place in the Big East. The Mountaineers got eight early points from starting center Olayinka Sanni, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, to capture a quick 17-9 lead, prompting a timeout from Berenato.

Despite its struggles, magnified by Zellous’ problems in finding her shot, Pitt managed to close the score to 27-23 on a three-point play from Walker with less than a minute to play in the half.

But Walker got into early foul trouble in the second half, picking up her third foul at the 13:42 mark. At that point, West Virginia had already hit three more 3-pointers to open up a 36-24 lead. Owens hit another 3 and Sanni completed a three-point play to cap a 20-6 run that extended the Mountaineer advantage to a game-high 18 points at 47-29.

Pitt managed to keep getting the ball to Walker, though, and the Mountaineers eventually just started fouling her. The junior hit six free throws to keep Pitt within striking distance at 49-37. But Walker picked up her fourth foul with under eight minutes left, sending her to the bench.

While West Virginia didn’t necessarily exploit the Panthers’ missing inside presence, the Mountaineers did keep Pitt from scoring enough points to get back into the game. Owens drilled a 3 to make it 54-37 right before Walker picked up her fourth foul.

Walker would ultimately foul out of the game, and Pitt would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

“People are going to ask ‘What does this mean for the Pittsburgh women’s basketball team?'” Berenato said. “We’re fine. The sun will come up tomorrow, and these kinds of games are going to come up when you’re trying to build a program. You have to credit West Virginia. They’re a tough, strong and physical team.

“We’ll learn from this, and the way that you learn from it is to get back into the trenches and work on becoming physically and mentally tough.”

The Panthers host DePaul Saturday at 2 p.m. Seniors Danielle Taylor and Mallorie Winn will be honored for Senior Night, as it will be the final home game of the regular season.