Women beat the buzzer again, down Seton Hall 58-56

With the game tied at 56 with 24 seconds to play, everyone in the Petersen Events Center knew… With the game tied at 56 with 24 seconds to play, everyone in the Petersen Events Center knew what was coming: a Mallorie Winn game-winner.

Sure enough, Winn got the ball off the inbound, and she quickly moved across court to the top of the key, where she waited until just six seconds remained to make her move.

And sure enough, she pulled up to shoot. But as she did, two Seton Hall defenders closed in to defend, and Winn alertly kicked the ball outside to the now wide-open Shavonte Zellous. The freshman collected the pass and calmly buried the biggest basket of her young career with 1.2 seconds to play to give Pitt a 58-56 win.

“It’s all about confidence and taking the shots,” Zellous said. Head coach Agnus Berenato echoed her thoughts.

“She’s struggled with her confidence offensively, because maybe that’s not what she’s been used for in the past, in high school,” Berenato said.

There was no struggling on this night. Zellous dropped a career-high 13 points -she also had eight rebounds – against the Pirates, picking up the offense on a night that saw little production from Winn, the backcourt’s offensive leader. However, an off night from Winn didn’t stop Seton Hall head coach Phyllis Mangina from planning her game around Winn.

“She can score, and she gives you fits,” Mangina said. “I’ve been watching Mallorie hit that last-second shot, so our kid moved over. She did the right thing.”

Winn has hit game-winners in the closing seconds of three games already this year, two of those against South Florida.

On this night, however, she was mostly silent. She hit a 3-pointer in the opening minutes, but could manage just one other field goal in the game. She did dish out a team-high four assists in the contest.

The game should never have been as close as it ended up. The heart-stopping finish came only after the Panthers squandered several big leads. In the first four minutes of both halves, Pitt built large leads – nine points in the first half, 10 in the second. But in each half, Seton Hall, having entered the game with a 3-9 Big East Record – had an answer.

In the first half, Monique Blake kept the Pirates in the game. The junior, who led all scorers with 18 points, hit five of her first eight shots, finishing the opening 20 minutes with 13 points. Much of her success had to do with the absence of Pitt defensive stopper Xenia Stewart.

Stewart picked up her third foul with 10:44 to play in the first half, and Berenato was forced to bench her.

“I was overly anxious,” Stewart explained afterwards. “We had set a goal not to let Seton Hall get 50 points.”

In the second half, Shantel Brown took over the game. Despite being the shortest player on Seton Hall’s roster at 5 feet 7 inches, she drove the lane time and again for baskets. At one point, she went on a 7-0 run all by herself, cutting Pitt’s eight-point lead with 13:32 to play to just one less than two minutes later.

“We put an awful lot of pressure on her all year long,” Mangina said of Brown. “She’s one of the best young players in the league. She’s unafraid. She’ll go into anyone at any time.”

The rest of the Pirates followed her example in the second half, as Seton Hall outscored Pitt in the paint 20-8 in the final period.

It should come as no surprise that the visitors made such a run, though. The last five games between the two teams have been decided by a total of 18 points.

Fortunately for the Panthers, they had their own weapon inside. Marcedes Walker continued her impressive sophomore campaign, scoring 17 points to lead the team. She also had two blocks, one of which Berenato said did much to spark her team.

“I think we have the best center in the nation,” she said. “She can play with two, three girls. If it’s one-on-one, it’s hands down, she scores.”

With the win, the Panthers – the preseason choice to finish 13th in the conference – move to 8-5 in Big East play. They now stand at 17-7 overall, just the seventh time in team history that they have reached 17 wins.

But don’t look for them to be satisfied.

“As a team, everybody is happy, but we keep working hard,” Walker said. “We don’t want to go postseason, NIT. We want the NCAA [tournament].”