Women use OT to get revenge on Marquette

A rivalry is brewing in women’s basketball. After only the third-ever meeting between Pitt… A rivalry is brewing in women’s basketball. After only the third-ever meeting between Pitt and Marquette yesterday, the teams appeared to be age-old nemeses.

Elbows flew, bodies hit the floor and a slugfest between conference heavyweights erupted at the Petersen Events Center as the Golden Eagles and Panthers exchanged basket for basket in 45 minutes of classic Big East competition.

A turnaround layup by Marquette senior forward Christina Quaye as regulation time ran out gridlocked the score at 72, forcing overtime in Pitt’s first home contest of its conference schedule.

Marquette (15-2, 3-1) needed a 12-0 run in the middle of the second half to climb back into the contest, but a late rally in overtime iced the Panthers’ first victory of 2007, 91-87.

“Today’s victory was a tremendous team effort,” Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said. “It was a huge victory for this program.”

With just one minute remaining in overtime, Pitt freshman guard Ashleigh Braxton splashed the biggest 3-pointer of the Panthers’ young season, pushing Pitt’s lead to six at 83-77. The Panthers nailed eight more free throws and held off several Marquette 3s in the final frantic moments to hang on to the win.

“When Marquette scored [at the end of regulation], I wasn’t happy with the looks on our players’ faces,” Berenato said. “I brought that to their attention and they responded extremely well. We were never down in that overtime.”

Pitt (13-2, 1-1) scored its highest total this season, as three Panthers scored 20 or more points. Redshirt sophomore Shavonte Zellous netted 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting and snatched a team-leading 10 rebounds from the guard position.

“Last year, Marquette knocked us out of the WNIT,” Zellous said. “We wanted to get revenge and wanted to protect our house against a ranked team like that.”

It was the first meeting between the two programs since Marquette ended the Panthers’ run to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament semifinals, beating Pitt for the second time in the 2005-2006 season. In the first matchup, the Golden Eagles edged out the Panthers 71-62 on their home floor in Milwaukee, Wis.

Yet Pitt (No. 22 ESPN/USA TODAY), returning to the Petersen Events Center three days removed from its 63-39 drubbing at the hands of hosts Rutgers in its Big East opener, got its first chance to challenge Marquette (No. 16 AP/No. 20 ESPN/USA Today) at home. And the Panthers capitalized.

It was Pitt’s first-ever victory against a top-20 opponent.

“This was a big win because [Marquette] is a great team,” Berenato said.

Sophomore guard Xenia Stewart tallied career highs in points and steals, and tied her career high in blocks, tallying 23 points, four steals and three swatted shots in 43 minutes of action. The 6-footer had six assists and nabbed three rebounds.

Junior Marcedes Walker, who fouled out after 36 minutes of play, drained 20 points and ripped down seven rebounds in a post-play dogfight. The 6-3 center battled 6-1 Jasmine McCullough, and 6-2 forwards Quaye and Danielle Kamm for paint supremacy all night long.

“I just let the ball come to me and battled hard,” Walker said. “But I’m happy knowing that I have teammates that I can kick it out to, and they can score with me, and that makes things a lot easier.” Quaye led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting, sinking seven of 10 foul shots in her 40 minutes. She snagged a team-high nine rebounds, while McCullough (five) and Kamm (six) combined for 11 boards, six of which were off the offensive glass.

“Big players show up for big games, and tonight was a big game,” Berenato said. “Fortunately, we had three big players to make the difference between a win and a loss.” Golden Eagles guard Krystal Ellis scored 27 points, hitting three 3-pointers on nine-of-16 shooting. The 5-9 sophomore hauled in six rebounds and delivered five assists in 33 minutes.

Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell, a graduate of Duquesne University, liked her team’s resiliency in their comeback, but credited the Panthers in putting the victory away.

“We had a great comeback against a good team,” Mitchell said. “Still, against a good team like Pitt, you have to put yourself in a better position to win, and we just didn’t do that. We’ll regroup and move on, and we can definitely build on this loss.”

The Panthers return to action Saturday in a Big East matchup against St. John’s at the Petersen Events Center. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader, capped off by Pitt men’s basketball’s meeting with Georgetown at 9 p.m.