Women's Hoops Cruises Past St. Francis (NY), 88-62
12/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women's Hoops Cruises Past St. Francis (NY), 88-62
12/28/2004
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. ? Led by junior Katie Histed?s career-best 24 points, the Pittsburgh women?s basketball team ended a three-game losing streak and a 17-day layoff with an 88-62 victory at St. Francis (N.Y.) at the Pope P.E. Center on Tuesday evening.
Histed (Waverly, N.Y./Waverly) connected on nine of her 17 shots, including 4-of-9 from beyond the three-point line to lead four Panthers (7-3) in double figures. Joining her with at least 10 points were freshman Marcedes Walker (Philadelphia, Pa./University City), with 19 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, sophomore Danielle Taylor (Cleveland, Ohio/Villa Angela-St. Joseph) with a career-high 13 points and freshman Vika Sholokhova (St. Petersburg, Russia/Sacred Heart (N.J.)), who scored all 11 of her points in the second half to go along with seven rebounds.
The win over the Terriers (4-6) was the Panthers? first since topping Stony Brook on Dec. 4 and it was the first game for Pittsburgh since dropping a 51-38 decision at Clemson on Dec. 11. The Panthers? seven wins are one more than the team recorded in 2003-04, when Pitt finished 6-20.
After Histed opened the game?s scoring with a three-pointer, the Terriers went on a 9-2 run for a four-point lead of their own, which would be the largest for St. Francis in the game. An 8-0 run by Pittsburgh, highlighted by Walker?s four points, gave the Panthers a 13-9 advantage with 13:45 remaining in the first frame, a lead they wouldn?t relinquish.
Histed added two more three-pointers over the next three minutes to extend Pittsburgh?s lead and that was followed by eight consecutive points by Taylor to make it a 29-22 game. St. Francis had closed the gap to 35-31 with 2:30 remaining but the Panthers went on a 5-1 run to close the half with a 40-32 lead. That momentum carried over into the second half when Pittsburgh scored 21 of the first 25 points to push the advantage to 25 at 61-36 with 12:47 left. The Terriers made an effort to get back into the contest with a 10-0 run but the Panthers closed out with the 26-point victory.
The Panthers had a season-best 60 rebounds, more than double what the Terriers were able to record on the boards. It was the fourth consecutive and sixth time in 10 games that the Panthers had at least 50 rebounds. Pittsburgh will play at Fordham on Thursday, December 30 with a noon tip-off at the Rose Hill Gym.
Notes: Pittsburgh?s win over the Terriers was the first meeting between the schools?the Panthers are now 32-2 against teams from the NEC?senior Amy Kunich (Monroeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic) was close to a triple-double with nine points, eight rebounds (tied a career high) and nine assists?Pittsburgh is now 6-2 away from the Petersen Events Center this season, including a 4-2 mark on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games.