Women’s hoops on a roll, beats Bulls again

The Pitt women’s basketball team (19-5, 7-4 Big East) held off a strong second-half comeback… The Pitt women’s basketball team (19-5, 7-4 Big East) held off a strong second-half comeback attempt by South Florida (17-7, 7-4) Saturday as it pulled off a stunning 69-65 victory in Tampa, Fla.

The Bulls missed out on last-second opportunities to tie the game with offensive rebounds by Shantia Grace and Tristen Webb. Off one of those rebounds, Grace, who finished the game with 23 points and eight assists, lost an opportunity to close the gap to two points by missing a layup with a few seconds left.

The Panthers, who entered the game on a three-game win streak, started off strong as they built their lead to 15 points by halftime. They shot 63 percent from the floor in the first period to manufacture a 43-28 lead at half.

“We really excelled in our game plan coming out from the start,” said Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato, whose team has moved into fifth place in the Big East with the win.

The Bulls came out at the half inspired, but that didn’t last long as they managed four missed shots on their first possession. They would eventually put in the rebound of one of those missed shots to spark a comeback by a USF team that scored a season-low 48 points against the Panthers when the teams faced each other in Pittsburgh on Jan. 20.

“We knew they would come out and make a run. They had a boisterous crowd on their side,” Berenato said. “We knew it was more important for them to come out and make the shots, which they did, but we weathered that storm and held on.”

South Florida would eventually cut the Panthers’ lead to five with about 13 minutes left in the game, but Pitt was able to expand the margin to 12 with just less than six minutes remaining. Marcedes Walker, who finished with her fourth career double-double against South Florida, scored eight points and Xenia Stewart chipped in six in that span to put the Panthers up.

But the Bulls would charge back, this time cutting the Panthers’ lead to just two points with 1:13 remaining on the clock, but would find themselves down five with 13 seconds left.

“We needed to get a rebound, and I was confident in that,” Berenato said. “As a coach, you don’t coach to lose. I coach to win, plain and simple.”

Stewart led the Panthers in scoring with 21 points, but she had help in the game from Walker, who tallied 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Shavonte Zellous, who also chipped in 17 points to go along with her five rebounds.

The Bulls had four scorers in double figures led by Grace and center Nalini Miller, who put in 14 points and 13 rebounds. Also leading the Bulls was the play of Rachel Sheats, who had 12 points and five rebounds.

South Florida star forward Jessica Dickson was again held in check by the Panthers as she shot two-of-18 from the floor. She scored just 10 points, but she did help in the paint as she chipped in 11 rebounds.

“Jessica Dickson is a great player,” Berenato said. “But as a coach, you can’t focus your game plan around just one player. We played team defense against her by having many different players contribute to shutting her down.”

Dickson, who came into the game averaging nearly 20 points per game, is an All-America and National Player of the Year candidate, but this is the second game this season that the Panthers’ defense has held her to only 10 points.

“South Florida made some great runs,” Berenato said. “But our staff made some good adjustments. We knew they had some weaknesses, so we tried to exploit them.”

The Panthers accumulated 25 defensive rebounds in the game, and they also finished with seven steals. Karlyle Lim led the Pitt defense, finishing the game with three turnovers forced to go along with her six points.

Pitt returns home Tuesday for its next game against Cincinnati, a team that has won only three of its past 10 games. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.