Kunich and Allen look to lead Panthers’ backcourt

Agnus Berenato doesn’t care about the past of Pitt women’s Basketball. The first-year head… Agnus Berenato doesn’t care about the past of Pitt women’s Basketball. The first-year head coach is concerned with only one thing for her Lady Panthers – the future.

A year after finishing 12-16 overall, and more importantly, 4-12 in the Big East, the Panthers top three scorers are gone and Berenato is left with just one player who averaged over five points a game a year ago, junior guard Amy Kunich.

Kunich, a Monroeville, Pa., native, averaged 6.9 points per game while being surrounded by three 1,000 point career scorers. She was second on the team in assists with 3.9 per contest but this year will have to become much more of a scoring threat.

“I have to step up and be the team leader. I have to contribute more this year than last year and still get my teammates my ball,” Kunich said.

Kunich will lead a backcourt that could have up to six different players see action.

Shelia Stufflet is the lone senior and is listed as a forward but can play guard as well. Three sophomores and a true freshman round out the rest of a very inexperienced group of ball handlers, all of whom averaged less than 12 minutes per game a year ago.

Shavon Earp, a sophomore from Virginia, could figure to be the wild card in the lineup this year for the Panthers. Earp sat out the squad’s first few scrimmages before returning Monday and making an immediate impact.

“Shavon hasn’t been available so far this year, but [Monday] she made a huge difference, a huge impact, right away,” Berenato said. “But then again, we didn’t have her until now.”

Competing with Earp for playing time will be fellow sophomores Jess Allen and Cheron Taylor.

Allen averaged 4.6 points a game a year ago and is a threat from three-point range. Last year, Allen shot a team-high 43 percent from beyond the arc, but will look to incorporate other parts of her game this season.

“It will depend on a game-to-game situation, but if the shot is open, I’ll take the shot – but if I have to penetrate, I can do that too,” Allen said.

Taylor, like Stufflet, is listed as a forward but has the ability to be part of the backcourt, as well. Although she only averaged just over two points per game last season – her freshman season – Taylor will look to create more scoring opportunities for herself with her playing time.

The lone freshman in the backcourt is Brooke Hughes. In her senior year of high school, she averaged 20 points and 10 assists per game while leading South Webster High to a No. 2 state ranking. As a Panther, Hughes understands she is no longer in the limelight but just another piece of what she hopes is a winning puzzle.

“I hope to be able to be an asset to the team and get some minutes,” Hughes said. “I just want to play my role and do what I have to do to help my team. Everyone has their own role; I just have to play mine to help us win.”

Perhaps the most important addition to the Panther backcourt will be assistant coach Shea Ralph.

A 2001 graduate of Connecticut, she was named Big East Player of the Year, a Final Four Most Valuable Player and the captain of Connecticut’s 2000 National Championship squad. With her experience and knowledge, Ralph has the opportunity to make a real difference at Pitt.

“I know where she came from and her background. She is willing to help us in any way,” Earp said. “She wants us to have the same feeling she had when she won her championships. It’s really nice to have a younger coach that really understands where we are coming from.”

Starting Thursday, Berenato, Kunich and company will begin to rebuild a program that hasn’t had a winning season in three years. However, with the right combination of speed, size and talent in the backcourt, the Panthers are headed in the right direction.