Winn named All-WNIT for her postseason play

The season may be over, but the praise keeps coming for the Pitt women’s basketball… The season may be over, but the praise keeps coming for the Pitt women’s basketball remarkable 2005-06 campaign.

Junior do-everything guard Mallorie Winn earned a spot on the All-Women’s National Invitational Tournament Team on Monday for leading her Panthers to the semifinals of the WNIT last month.

Winn, a junior transfer from Georgia Tech (where current Pitt coach Agnus Berenato was her head coach) averaged 21.3 points per outing in Pitt’s four post-season games, including a career-best 27 in an 85-76 second round win over Mississippi. That performance came only days after she scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a 64-57 victory over Delaware for the program’s first post-season victory in more than a decade.

In the quarterfinals, she pumped in 20 points while ripping down seven rebounds and handing out six assists in 38 minutes of play, leading Pitt to a 68-58 win over former Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia in the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse.

Her third consecutive 20-point outing came in the semifinals, but it wasn’t enough to rally her team from an early deficit in a road loss to Big East opponent Marquette in the WNIT’s Final Four. She finished the game with 21 points, five assists and two rebounds, but the Golden Eagles prevailed, 77-64.

Marquette fell to Kansas State in the WNIT Championship later that week.

For the season, Winn averaged 15.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and four assists per game, landing her a spot on the All-Big East Second Team.