Late turnovers cost Panthers victory

The Pitt women’s basketball team had an opportunity to end its losing streak, but in the end… The Pitt women’s basketball team had an opportunity to end its losing streak, but in the end the Notre Dame Fighting Irish used the same formula that Pitt used to come back against it.

Twice, the Panthers came back from deficits by forcing turnovers. Pitt was able to pressure Notre Dame into 15 turnovers in the game. Pitt forwards LaToya Kincaid and Jennifer Brown led the Panthers with three turnovers apiece while guard Stacy Moore came up with two steals.

“Stacy Moore played an all-around phenomenal game and I thought Jennifer Brown played a great second half,” Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato said.

The Panthers’ defense appeared to be possessed during their comeback attempt as they dove after balls and put relentless pressure on the Irish’s ball handlers. Pitt trailed in the game 21-14 with just over nine minutes left in the first half before steals by Moore and Kincaid respectively finished off a 9-4 run that closed the gap to 25-23.

“They never lost their poise,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. “We made a nice run to start the second half and got up by double digits. They just didn’t quit.”

Notre Dame went back up by four before Pitt was able to tie the game. With 2:19 left in the first half, the Panthers finally caught the Irish when Kincaid nailed two free throws to knot the game at 32. Two more Kincaid foul shots gave Pitt a brief 34-32 lead.

But an 8-2 run by the Irish gave them a 40-37 lead at the half and, according to Berenato, the momentum they would need to defeat Pitt. Jeneka Joyce nailed two of her five three pointers of the game during the run to account for six of Notre Dame’s eight points.

“We’re bitterly disappointed in the loss, [but] I think we lost the game in the last minute of the first half,” Berenato said. “We lost the game on the right and left elbows when they hit two threes, and that was the ballgame.”

“I guess the defense just fell asleep,” Joyce said. “I just hung out on the wing and seemed to be open.”

The Irish appeared to have made Berenato a prophet as they came out in the second half and opened on an 11-2 run. But like the first half, the Panthers were again able to come back from a large deficit.

“I knew our team could recover from that,” Berenato said. “I don’t know that it was anything that Notre Dame did. I think it was what we did not do. We came out and we were like the Pittsburgh of past.”

Down 50-37, Pitt finally got on the scoreboard in the second half with two more Kincaid free throws. Again, the Panthers were able to pressure the Irish into turnovers in order to chip away at Notre Dame’s lead.

Kincaid was able to come up with two more steals and Brown along with Moore also came up with steals. Before Pitt knew what had happened it had gone on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 57-54.

“I thought they got a bunch of easy layups in transition. [They scored] 20 points off of our turnovers,” McGraw said. “That was the key – we threw it away and they went down and made a layup. We made it very easy for them to get back in the game.”

Notre Dame’s cushion would stay manageable for Pitt and following a field goal by Moore, the Panthers were only down 67-65. Pitt guard Amy Kunich threw up a desperation three-point attempt, while being swarmed by Irish defenders as time expired on the shot clock that found the bottom of the net.

Kunich’s three pointer gave Pitt the lead with 2:18 left on the clock. But two turnovers forced by Irish guard LeTania Severe with Notre Dame ahead in the last 16 seconds sealed Pitt’s fate.