Size matters.

The Pitt women’s basketball game Saturday against Boston College was… Size matters.

The Pitt women’s basketball game Saturday against Boston College was determined solely by size. The inside presence that was established by the visiting Eagles early on in the game led to the demise of the Panthers as they were defeated 78-52 at the Petersen Events Center.

The average height of the Panthers is about 5-feet-10-inches, while the visiting Eagles boasted heights of about 6-feet even.

This slight height advantage made the difference in the game as Pitt was outscored in the paint 30-20, outrebounded 44-36 and was outblocked 6-4. The Eagles used their height advantage to pound the ball inside to the low post and in the first half alone the Eagles had the advantage on the block 22-6.

“They had a very, very strong presence inside today,” Pitt head coach Traci Waites said. “They took advantage of our smaller inside size and it took us out of our game.”

Along with height, the play of senior forward Becky Gottstein and sophomore guard Jessalyn Deveny shut the Panthers down. The duo of Gottstein and Deveny amassed a total of 43 points, 19 rebounds, six assists and three steals to send Pitt to its 10th conference loss of the season.

“They [Boston College] really played well across the board and beat us in every aspect of the game,” Waites said.

Gottstein and Deveny were outscoring the Panthers by themselves with their 43-point performance, however, as time dwindled down and the game was in hand, the two were given the rest of the game off. It wasn’t until the 3-minute-51-second mark that Pitt as a team pulled ahead of the pair.

The Eagles’ game plan focused on situations rather than just forcing the ball to the inside. They showed their strength as an inside out team with their perimeter shooting taking over for the inside game when Pitt double-teamed Gottstein, Kim Mackie or Maureen Leahy underneath.

“We wanted to get touches today inside, not necessarily points but touches,” Boston College head coach Cathy Inglese said. “If they double teamed us inside, we were going to kick it to the outside, but they showed us one-on-one coverage early on so we attacked the inside.”

This isn’t the first time a Panther opponent has exploited Pitt’s height. Earlier this season against the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies, the Panthers were also shut down because of the rebounding and inside game of its opponent.

Pitt has focused much of this season on improving its rebounding and being able to penetrate in order to set up its outside shooters. But Pitt was unable to get its outside shooters going as they fired up three-pointers trying to get back in the game.

“This one is done, we are now focusing on Notre Dame,” Waites said. “We’re not going to hang our heads, we’ve got to move forward.