Women’s Basketball: Pitt faces No. 9 Maryland on the road after home loss

Three days after dropping a home contest to a talented but unranked Georgia Tech team, the road does not get any easier for the Pitt women’s basketball team.

The Panthers travel to College Park, Md., to take on the No. 9 Maryland Terrapins on Thursday night at the Comcast Center.

Pitt (10-12, 2-6 ACC) could not contain two of the ACC’s premier scorers, Georgia Tech senior Tyaunna Marshall and freshman Kaela Davis, on Monday, as the two scored 23 and 16 points, respectively, en route to a convincing 11-point victory.

In order to not suffer the same fate against a talented Maryland (17-4, 5-3 ACC) squad, the Panthers will have to find a way to neutralize Maryland senior forward Alyssa Thomas.

Thomas, a Harrisburg native, is a National Player of the Year candidate and will once again create matchup problems for a Pitt team that has struggled against opposing post players since 6-foot-11 center Marvadene “Bubbles” Anderson was injured in late December.

The Terrapins’ two-time reigning ACC Player of the Year is averaging 18.4 points and 11 rebounds per game and is coming off a stellar performance in which she recorded the fifth triple-double of her career in a 15-point win over Syracuse on Sunday.

The tall task of covering Thomas will once again be up to senior forward Asia Logan, who has shined on the offensive end recently, posting double-figure scoring outputs in three straight games.

Logan, making a homecoming on Thursday to the Baltimore, Md., area where she grew up, has been scoring in bunches but is still plenty responsible for the deficiencies in the paint on defense.

Georgia Tech posted 42 points in the paint on Monday, Duke posted 50 down low just a week before that and Notre Dame posted 46 points 10 days before that.

Plain and simple, it is a problem for which Logan and head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio both have to take responsibility.

“It has been something for us all year, being undersized,” McConnell-Serio said after the loss to Georgia Tech on Monday. “Once we lost Bubbles, we became so small inside. We start four guards, and we realize that is why we need to be more efficient on the offensive end, because of the size difference on the defensive end.”

The Panthers will have to factor into their preparations that Maryland is the ACC’s top rebounding team, as the Terrapins outrebound opponents on average by more than 11 boards per game.

The game will be won inside, but a Maryland team that reached the Sweet Sixteen last season and returns four of five starters is expected to dominate beyond the arc, as well.

The Terrapins, as a team, shoot 36 percent from 3-point range and are led by an Aliquippa, Pa., native, freshman guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. Walter-Kimbrough, a two-time ACC Rookie of the Week honoree, is lighting it up in her first season, scoring more than 10 points per game and shooting more than 47 percent from the perimeter.

Pitt will most likely counter with the same five starters it has used in every game since a win over Duquesne on Dec. 29, featuring Logan, junior guard Brianna Kiesel, redshirt senior Ashlee Anderson, redshirt sophomore Loliya Briggs and senior Marquel Davis.

The Panthers return home for a Sunday-afternoon matchup with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons following Thursday’s game, with only seven remaining ACC conference games before tournament play begins.