Pitt Women's Basketball Begins Big East Play on Wednesday
12/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2011
Pitt Game Notes (pdf) | Game Day Central | Live Stats | Georgetown Game Notes
GAME 9: No. 19/20 Georgetown at Pitt
Big East Opener
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 • 7 p.m. ET
Petersen Events Center • Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pitt Panthers Television on The Comcast Network: Channels 188 or 210
MEDIA INFORMATION
Television: Pitt Panthers Television (Channel 188 or 210 in Pittsburgh area) -Jeff Hathhorn, Jennifer Tuscano
Pitt Radio: Pitt IMG College Sports Radio Network (WJAS AM 1320) - Scott Stiller, Karlyle Lim
Internet Radio Broadcast/Live Stats: www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
Coaches: Pitt: Agnus Berenato, Ninth Season at Pitt (148-110), 28th season overall (431-374); Georgetown: Terri Williams-Flournoy, 8th season overall and Georgetown (127-97)
Rankings: Georgetown: AP-19; USA TODAY/ESPN-20
Series: Pitt and Georgetown meet for the 51st time in program history. The Panthers hold a 27-21 advantage, including a 26-17 edge in Big East regular season games. Pitt is 16-8 at home against GU. The Hoyas have won two-straight in the series.
GAME PREVIEW
PITTSBURGH--The University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team returns home to open Big East play versus No. 19/20 Georgetown on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at the Petersen Events Center. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET.
The contest will be televised on Pitt Panthers Television with Jeff Hathhorn and Jennifer Tuscano handling play-by-play and color analyst duties, respectively.
The Panthers have dropped two-straight, falling on the road at High Point and No. 6/7 Duke last weekend. Pitt is 4-2 at home this season.
Freshman Brianna Kiesel paces the team in a pair of categories, leading in scoring (13.6 ppg) and assists (3.6 per game). Sophomore Kyra Dunn and Redshirt sophomore Leeza Burdgess are each hauling in 7.6 rebounds a game. Dunn, who has started all eight games along with Kiesel, is the Big East leader in blocked shots (2.9 per contest).
Redshirt sophomore Abby Dowd, in her first season in a Panthers uniform, has drained 16 of the team's 24 3-pointers.
Big East Openers
Under head coach Agnus Berenato, the Panthers are 4-4 in Big East Conference openers. Pitt dropped a 67-51 decision to DePaul in its league opener a season ago (Dec. 7, 2010) at the Petersen Events Center.
The Panthers have lost their last two season Big East openers. Tonight’s game marks the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons that the Panthers opened the season at home in two consecutive campaigns. Overall, Pitt is 12-17 in Big East openers with a 7-6 mark in home league starters. Last season’s league opener was the earliest for Pitt since Dec. 8, 2005 - a 67-55 victory over Syracuse at the Petersen Events Center.
Wednesday’s game marks the second-straight season, the Big East has played its first league contest for its 16-member schools in early December. Prior to last season, the last time the league played a season conference starter in December was the 2006-07 season.
Series Info
Pitt and Georgetown boast a series that dates back to 1981. The first meeting took place on Feb. 18, 1981, an 86-72 Pittsburgh win at home. The Panthers hold a 27-21 advantage in head-to-head meetings and have captured wins in five of the last seven and in eight of the last 13.
The Hoyas have won two-straight in the series, including a 67-57 win in last season’s regular season matchup in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 23, 2011. The Panthers had a nine-point lead in the game, shooting 60 percent in the first half. Pitt was up by nine with 30 seconds to go before the half, but GU scored five-straight to make it a four-point game (29-25) at intermission.
The Hoyas rallied more in the second in the contest behind a flurry of 3-pointers, highlighting a 15-2 run and sealing the win. Sugar Rodgers had 16 for Georgetown, including four 3-pointers. Three players had double figures for Pitt, led by Taneisha Harrison with 16. The teams combined to make 41 visits to the free throw line (Pitt: 17- of-21; Georgetown: 9-of-20).
This is the earliest showdown between the two program and just the third in the month of December. Pitt has a 16-8 mark at home against Georgetown. Pitt has opened its Big East slate against the Hoyas in four previous seasons, lastly in 1990-91. Last season the squads faced off in Pitt’s 27th game of the 2010-11 season - much earlier this season as the contest is the ninth of the year for the Panthers.