Panthers keep things close but fall to Huskies

Connecticut’s women’s basketball team beat Pitt last year by nearly 50 points, 97-49, and the… Connecticut’s women’s basketball team beat Pitt last year by nearly 50 points, 97-49, and the year before that, they more than doubled Pitt’s score at 97-42. These facts alone were reason enough for Pitt’s head coach, Agnus Berenato, to use the term “moral victory” to describe their 65-54 loss to No. 5 Connecticut at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday.

“We’re not here for moral victories, but for the first time in my career, I really feel like we got one today,” Berenato said. It was the Huskies’ 20th straight win at Pitt, who haven’t lost to the Panthers since Feb. 24, 1993. This time, though, the winning margin was smaller than ever before.

Pitt (12-6 overall, 3-4 Big East) had a 5-2 lead almost four minutes into the game, after a 3-pointer made by Pitt’s Maddy Brown. The Panthers, however, failed to recapture the lead for the rest of the game after the Huskies (17-2, 6-0 Big East) countered with two 3s. Berenato’s team trailed by only three at the half, and continued to keep up with Connecticut throughout the second half.

“I honestly thought we were going to win until there were 30 seconds left,” Berenato said. “I was fine being down by a few points.”

Most of the game was much closer than the 11-point deficit that Pitt fell into at the end after missing key shots and free throws that could have pulled out a victory for the Panthers.

“We didn’t take bad shots today. We just had a lot of shots that literally were in and out [of the basket],” Berenato said of her team’s 25.7-percent shooting, making 18 of 70 attempts. The Huskies, who put up the ball only 50 times, shot for 44 percent with 22 made.

Pitt out-rebounded the Huskies, with a season-high 54 rebounds, which included 31 offensive rebounds, one less than UConn managed to pull down in the entire game. Pitt senior Cheron Taylor came up with 14 rebounds, which tied a career-high.

Berenato pointed out that Taylor is only 5-foot-9, and said that she was pleased with her performance, as 10 of her rebounds came in the first half. Pitt sophomore Marcedes Walker broke her season-high total with 15 boards and picked up a double-double, scoring 12 points.

The Panthers also collected the majority of the loose balls in a tight game that had many of the players battling on the floor multiple times.

A Walker layup tied the contest at 12 with 9:06 left in the first half. Junior Mallorie Winn, who came off the bench to pump in 11 points, assisted the basket. Winn, who did not start for the first time this season, scored all of her points in the second half.

Freshman Shavonte Zellous contributed 11 points for the Panthers and finished with six rebounds and two blocks.

Mel Thomas, who hit five 3 pointers and totaled 21 points for the game, led the Huskies. Connecticut’s Ann Strother, who made key baskets at the end of the game to hold up the Husky Victory, picked up 14 points along with five boards, while Brittany Hunter put up 11 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies, who used a 20-10 run that kept the Panthers behind by at least seven the rest of the way.

“We did not lose this game from lack of effort,” Berenato said. “I thought we played hard, we attacked and we were able to compete. The key word is ‘compete.’ We are a young team and young in our decision-making, but each game we have grown and matured to the point where we are starting to believe that [Pitt] can compete and win a game like this.”

For the first time in the season, Pitt is under .500 in the Big East. The Panthers will have six days off until their next matchup at Villanova Saturday at 2 p.m.