WVU hands Pitt first-round loss

HARTFORD, Conn. — Despite a career day by Danielle Taylor, the Pitt women’s basketball team… HARTFORD, Conn. — Despite a career day by Danielle Taylor, the Pitt women’s basketball team ended its season with a hard-fought 77-68 loss to West Virginia in the opening round of the Big East tournament on March 5.

The Mountaineers (17-11) had a remarkable individual performance of their own from star point guard Yolanda Paige. She set a Big East tournament record with 14 assists, breaking her own record set last year.

But while the senior was playing to extend her Big East career, Taylor, a sophomore, showed what the Panthers hope they will see more of in the next two years. Taylor scored a career-high 27 points, while playing the entire game for Pitt (13-15), marking the first time she has played more than 30 minutes.

“We never gave up,” Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said, “and I thought we had a stellar performance out of Danielle Taylor. And I think that’s what you do when you have adversity. When a door shuts, a window opens, and a window opened for her.”

The adversity Berenato spoke of was the Panthers playing without their two leading scorers on the year — Marcedes Walker (13.3 points per game), who was in uniform but did not enter the game, and Katie Histed (11.4 points per game), who did not travel with the team for disciplinary reasons.

But when Taylor’s window opened, she moved through quickly, scoring seven of the Panthers’ first 11 points, as Pitt took an early 11-6 lead with 16 minutes and 3 seconds to play in the first half. However, that five-point margin would be the largest lead of the game for the Panthers.

West Virginia came right back, as Paige came out of a timeout with a transition layup, sandwiched between a pair of assists, which gave the Mountaineers a 13-12 lead. The lead went back and forth after that 7-1 run, changing hands until a Sherell Sowho 3-pointer with 9:48 left in the first half gave West Virginia a 20-17 lead.

The game would never be closer than that, as the Mountaineers opened up leads of 15 and 18 points in the second half. Both times, Pitt chipped away at the lead getting the deficit into single digits. They cut the margin down to seven points, 69-62, with 2:14 left to play, but West Virginia shot 75 percent from the free-throw line on the night to keep the Panthers at bay.

Aside from trying to get her team into the NCAA tournament or Women’s National Invitaional Tournament, Paige had the added motivation of only being selected to the All-Big East second team, despite leading the conference in assists. She will end her career with West Virginia’s assists and minutes played records, and she has moved into the top 10 in NCAA history for assists.

“My goal is to go out there and distribute the ball. I accomplished my goal tonight,” Paige said of her record-setting game.

“What hurt her is her scoring,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. Yet she was able to score against the Panthers, recording a double-double with 12 points to go with her 14 assists. Her backcourt teammates, Meg Bulger and Sowho, led the Mountaineers with 23 and 19 points, respectively.

For Pitt, Taylor was complemented by 14 points from Vika Sholokhova and 12 points from Allisha Morris, who played well despite being saddled with foul trouble for much of the game, resulting in her fouling out of her final game with 5:34 left. Jennifer Brown also contributed 13 rebounds and eight points for the Panthers.

Berenato ended by praising her senior players — Morris, Amy Kunich and Jessica Allen — after the game, lauding their poise during a transitional period for the Pitt program.

“Compliments to my three seniors for the past couple years in Pittsburgh with two different coaches. I’m sure I wasn’t what they bargained for. I just walked in on them and they really handled me very well,” she said.

“I thank Allisha, Jess and Amy on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh. Because I feel that they have been a true inspiration and they weathered the storm through two coaches.”