Pitt
USF
PITT HOLDS OFF USF FOR 69-65 ROAD VICTORY
2/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2007
TAMPA, Fla. - The Pitt women's basketball team (19-5, 7-4 Big East) held off USF on the road for a 69-65 victory at the Sun Dome Saturday night behind Xenia Stewart's 21 point-performance.
"This was a great team effort," Pitt Head Coach Agnus Berenato said. "I have to give our team a lot of credit. We knew that South Florida would make a run in the second half and this was a great environment. We played through a lot of adversity against a very good team and kept our composure and held on for the win."
Stewart (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) led the team with 21 points, just two shy of her career-best. Junior center Marcedes Walker (Philadelphia, Pa./University City) earned her 30th career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds in just 30 minutes of play and sophomore Shavonte Zellous (Orlando, Fla./Jones) scored 17 points, also in 30 minutes.
"Xenia had a great second half," Berenato said. "She was tremendous and Sylvie Tafen came in late in the game and sunk those two free throws with ice water in her veins. USF is a great team and I wasn't sure how we would respond against their pressure, but we played well and this was a great team victory."
In the first half, Pitt got off to a 6-0 start and was up 10-3 behind six points from Zellous at the first time out. The Panthers increased the lead to 11 at 22-11 on a Karyle Lim (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) layup at the 10:10 mark.
USF Big East Preseason Player of the Year Jessica Dickson was held without a field goal until the 5:05 mark in the first half. Zellous ended the half with 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the field. The Panthers entered the lockerroom with a 43-28 lead.
In the second half, the Bulls came out firing with a 9-0 run to pull to 43-37. Zellous picked up her fourth foul with 15:21 remaining in the game and spent the majority of the half on the bench. Pitt started a run of its own to pull out to 55-44, keeping the game at around a 10-point Panther lead.
With just 1:13 left on the clock, USF's Shantia Grace scored a layup to cut the Pitt lead to two at 66-64. Pitt scored three free throws, including two from Sylvie Tafen (Yaounde, Cameroon/Mount De Chantal Visitation Academy) in the final 23 seconds of the game for the 69-65 victory.
The Panthers shot 62.1 percent from the field in the first half and concluded the game on 25 of 57 shooting for 43.9 percent. USF shot 33.8 percent from the field and held Dickson to just 2 of 18 from the field. Pitt out-rebounded the Bulls 47-39.
Pitt returns home Tuesday, Feb. 13 for a 7 p.m. meeting with Cincinnati at the Petersen Events Center. The game will be broadcast live on www.PittsburghPanthers.com as a part of All Access or locally on the radio at Fox Sports Radio 970 AM with Greg Linnelli and Mike Clark calling the action.
