Women to meet Cincy tomorrow

After a crushing 72-65 loss Tuesday night at Notre Dame, the Pitt women’s basketball team… After a crushing 72-65 loss Tuesday night at Notre Dame, the Pitt women’s basketball team heads to the Big East Championship tournament looking to make some noise.

Pitt (18-9 overall, 9-7 in the Big East) dropped its final two contests, losing consecutive games for just the second time this season.

That being said, the season finishes with a positive spin, however, as the Panthers are guaranteed postseason play by posting their first winning season since the 1999-2000 campaign.

Waiting in the wings as Pitt’s first Big East tournament foe is the Cincinnati Bearcats, a team the Panthers beat 64-63 on Feb. 4.

Cincinnati (17-10, 7-9) comes into the conference tournament on their own two-game losing streak, with losses to Notre Dame and Marquette.

With both teams fighting for consideration by the NCAA Championship Selection Committee, the game figures to be competitive.

Pitt’s biggest challenge is getting back on the winning track. In games following losses this season, Pitt tallied a 6-2 record.

A major part of their bouncing back after tough losses is the leadership of guard Mallorie Winn and prominent post presence Marcedes Walker, two players who have keyed the Panthers’ success all season.

Winn hit the game-winning shot – a baseline jumper as time ran out – in the first installment of the women’s basketball River City Rivalry.

In the contest, Walker notched her eighth double-double, scoring 13 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.

Winn and freshman guard Maddy Brown sparked the Panthers’ offense, combining for 29 points and 11 boards.

In a neutral setting, guard play will be a key to Pitt’s success. Winn, a junior transfer who started 26 of the Panthers’ 27 games this season, provides the often coveted experience of a veteran point guard.

Winn finished the 2005-2006 regular season averaging 15 points per game while distributing 3.9 assists a game. She also pulled in four rebounds per contest from the guard position, a difficult task in any level of basketball.

Walker continued her domination of Big East competition with a brilliant sophomore season. Averaging nearly a double-double – 17.4 points, 9.6 rebounds per game – Walker carried the Panthers’ offense for the majority of their 18-win season.

Cincinnati uses the speedy guard tandem of Treasure Humphries and Shelly Bellman to offset their lack of an offensively productive frontcourt.

Humphries, a 5-foot-6 junior from Canton, Ohio, tallies 12.8 points per game while shooting 41 percent from the field.

A 5-foot-10 freshman from Ottawa, Ohio, Bellman earned Big East Player of the Week honors in the final week of Big East contests.

Bellman leads the Bearcats in rebounding, pulling down 6.1 boards a game while adding 10.5 points per game. She torched Pitt in their only meeting this season for 20 points.

The first Big East Championship contest is critical to Pitt’s chances of receiving an NCAA tournament bid. Conference tournaments provide an exciting, neutral setting where underdogs make headlines every March.

Listed as one of the last eight teams left out of the NCAA tournament by ESPN’s bracket specialist Charlie Creme, Pitt needs to win at least one game in the Big East tournament to pad its resume.

The Panthers’ losing streak dropped them to sixth place in the final Big East standings. If Pitt beats Cincinnati, familiar faces await them in the quarterfinals.

DePaul (24-5, 11-5) beat the Panthers 81-75 in Chicago on Jan. 3 in a game where Pitt held the lead for most of the night.

Of the top four seeds in the tournament, DePaul is the only team Pitt lost to by less than 11 points.

The contest with Cincinnati is set for an 8 p.m. tip-off tomorrow night in Hartford, Conn.