It’s hard to imagine, but just four years ago, the Pitt women’s basketball team actually… It’s hard to imagine, but just four years ago, the Pitt women’s basketball team actually made it to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. Under then-head coach Traci Waites, the Panthers looked to be in good shape, with Pittsburgh native Brooke Stewart, Florida point guard Laine Selwyn and up-and-coming center Mandy Wittenmyer.

However, the Panthers suffered setbacks over the next three years and had a combined 29-53 record, resulting in a disappointing senior class of Selwyn, Wittenmyer and Stewart. Along with the disappointing class came the firing of Waites.

This summer, the Panthers hired Agnus Berenato from Georgia Tech. An unknown name to you and me, Berenato came to Pitt as a well-respected coach not only from the Atlantic Coast Conference, but also on a national level. She had taken a Yellow Jackets program that was down in the dumps and made them a legitimate program, taking them to the NCAA Tournament last season.

Coming into Pitt this season, Berenato knew she would have a challenge. She had only one returning starter in Amy Kunich, who was the only returning player that averaged more than five points the previous season. Haley Harguth left the team for personal reasons, so Berenato was left with – literally – a team of freshmen.

Last year, practices under Waites consisted of the five starters against a practice squad of male players, so the few returning players hadn’t even practiced since high school.

Berenato made it clear that this was no easy task ahead of her, and she made it publicly known that, while she wanted to win every game, it was likely Pitt would not win a Big East game all season, let alone make the Big East Tournament.

After a slow start to the season, the girls started to respond to their relentless coach. Heading into last week, Pitt had a 2-2 record in the conference. No one expected Pitt to have even two wins in the conference, but behind great coaching and new leadership from forward LaToya Kincaid, who is averaging 16 points per game, the Panthers had some hope.

Pitt lost its next two games to No. 21 Miami and, on Wednesday, to No. 23 Virginia Tech. But don’t look too deeply into these losses. You would think an undermanned, undersized team like Pitt would have no chance against these two teams, but that’s where people are dead wrong.

Pitt lost at Miami by only nine points and Wednesday by only 10. In both games, Pitt had opportunities to win. Everyone is giving the Pitt men’s team respect after losing to Connecticut Monday, but the same exact type of respect should be given to the women.

Pitt is no longer a pushover. Berenato has gotten the most out of what she has. After Wednesday’s loss to the Hokies, Berenato said, “If you asked me at the beginning of the season, I would never have said we would have two conference wins. I would have said probably none.”

Even Berenato is impressed by what she has been able to accomplish with her young team. Their record is 6-10 (2-4 in the Big East). But the games coming up are winnable games. Pitt now stands 12th in the conference, and as stated before, 12 teams make the conference tournament. So as of today, Pitt would reach its goal of making its own conference tournament.

Saturday, Pitt will travel to St. John’s, who is 13th in the conference. This is a game Pitt must win in order to make the tournament, and the following Saturday at home, Pitt will take on West Virginia, a team it lost to earlier in the season, but had a lead late in the second half, only to see the Mountaineers come back. This is another winnable game for the women.

Remember, the Pitt men’s team was in the same situation as the women a few years back, with young players like Brandin Knight, Julius Page, Jaron Brown and Toree Morris in the spring of 2001. That season, an undersized, underrated Pitt team received a low seed in its own tournament, but ran the table, shocking three teams to get to the Conference Championship game.

This is exactly what is happening to Pitt women’s basketball. It is nowhere near UConn or Notre Dame yet, but with a few more surprise wins in conference play, a run in the Big East Conference Tournament is not out of the question.

This team deserves a lot of respect. They play with so much heart and passion. No matter what the score, they never give up. Credit Berenato with starting what looks to be a very bright future for Pitt women’s basketball.

Brian Goldman is a staff writer for The Pitt News and is a huge Pitt women’s basketball fan. E-mail him comments or feedback at [email protected].