Pitt
Austin Peay
Pittsburgh Women's Basketball Downs Austin Peay, 75-53
12/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2010
PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh women's basketball team won its second-straight contest with a 75-53 victory over Austin Peay on Tuesday evening at the Petersen Events Center.
Seniors Chelsea Cole (Lumberton, N.J.) and Shayla Scott (Monroeville, Pa.) led the way, each capturing double-doubles for the Panthers (7-5). Cole had 13 points and 11 rebounds while Scott posted 12 points and 13 boards. Scott just missed Pitt's first triple double since 2002 - adding eight assists to her line score.
Senior Taneisha Harrison (Bowie, Md.) was the third Panther in double figures with 13 points.
Cole scored on back-to-back possessions to open the contest, helping Pitt jump out to an 8-1 lead. A pair of three-pointers and a jumper helped the Lady Govs close the gap and pull to a point at 10-9 at the 15:52 mark.
The Panthers responded with nine unanswered points, part of a 19-5 run to take a 29-14 lead on consecutive field goals from freshman Kyra Dunn (Sacramento, Calif.). Sims had five during the spurt, including her sixth three-pointer in the last three games. Pitt drained 13 of its first 18 shots of the contest, shooting at a 72.2 percent clip over that span.
After Austin Peay scored on its next possession, Pitt tallied the next eight-straight points. The surge was capped by a baseline three-pointer by freshman Yasmin Fuller (Seattle, Wash.) to build a 37-16 lead with 6:01 showing in the first.
The Panthers held the Lady Govs to just one field goal over the final 4:30 of the period en route to a 43-23 halftime lead.
Pitt continued its offense prowess in the second stanza, pushing the lead to as many as 28 with 5:30 remaining following a pair of free throws from Ashlee Anderson (Chicago, Ill.). Pitt posted 38 points in the paint en route to a 75-53 triumph, its second-straight win.
Meghan Bussabarger finished with 13 points for the Lady Govs (4-10), while Jasmine Rayner had 12.
The Panthers shot 50.9 percent for the game, the second-straight contest in which they posted a 50 percent clip or better.
Pitt will return to action on Friday, Dec. 31 with a 1 p.m. road contest at Central Michigan (8-3).
Game Notes
*With the victory, Pitt won consecutive games for the first time season.
*The Panthers led wire-to-wire for the fourth time this season and the first time in back-to-back games.
*Pitt had 13 blocks in the contest, the most in a single game this season. Shayla Scott led with four blocks, a season-best for the senior.
*Austin Peay was the second straight squad to not record a single block against the Panthers.
*The double-double was the seventh of the season for Cole, who leads the BIG EAST in the category. It was her 17th career double-digit performance in both points and rebounds.
*Scott collected her first double-double of the season and 10th of her career this evening.
*With her 13 rebounds, Scott has registered double-digit rebounding numbers in three games this season. The 13 rebounds match a season high for the senior - she also pulled down 13 in the season opener against Youngstown State.
*The last time two players had double-doubles in the same contest was last season versus Villanova (Feb. 17, 2010). Ironically, it was the same two Pitt players - Shayla Scott had 18 points and 11 rebounds while Chelsea Cole had 15 points and 16 rebounds in a 74-69 road win.
*Pitt assisted on 19 of 29 field goals
*The Panthers won the rebounding war with a 46-37 advantage, improving to 7-0 this season when winning the battle of the boards.
*The Panthers bench had 26 points, marking the fourth-straight game in which the non-starters scored 20 or more points.
