Pitt
St. John's
Women's Basketball Falls at St. John's, 72-63
2/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2011
QUEENS, N.Y. - Redshirt freshman Ashlee Anderson (Chicago, Ill.) had a career afternoon with 20 points, but it was not enough as the University of Pittsburgh dropped a 72-63 decision to St. John's University on Saturday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena.
Anderson registered a career-best five three-pointers, all in the second half.
Senior Taneisha Harrison (Bowie, Md.) added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers, who dropped their third-straight (13-15, 5-10). Senior Chelsea Cole (Lumberton, N.J.) had 12 rebounds, her 19th double-digit rebounding effort of the season.
The Red Storm (20-8, 9-6) were paced by D'Shena Stevens with 15 points and eight rebounds.
The teams traded field goals to start the contest with six different players connecting on six field goals for the Panthers. Redshirt freshman Leeza Burdgess (Miami, Fla.) converted an old-fashioned three-point play off an offensive put-back on the weak side to give Pitt a 13-10 lead with 11:56 left in the period.
The Red Storm took the lead and put some cushion on the scoreboard with a 12-2 spurt capped by a three-pointer from Amanda Burakoski to pull to a 22-15 edge with 5:25 left in the first.
Anderson ended a six-minute field goal drought for Pitt with a three-point play at the 3:02 mark to trim the Red Storm's lead to one at 23-22. St. John's took a 28-24 lead into the locker room.
Pitt grabbed 32 first half rebounds, the most recorded by the Panthers in any half this season. The 15-rebound edge at the half over the Red Storm was also a season-high.
The Panthers closed to a single point twice in the first two minutes of the second period, but the Red Storm recorded six straight points - four of those in fast break opportunities - to make it 36-29 and force a Pitt timeout. Anderson quieted the Storm by draining a triple from the right side to cut the deficit to four.
St. John's tallied three-consecutive points off of the free throw line to pull to a 39-32 lead, but Harrison answered with a trey from the right baseline to again make it a four-point contest at the 14:48 mark.
Stevens scored inside to make it a six-point home team advantage but the Panthers used the three-ball - this one the second of the period and game from Anderson to make it 41-38 with 13:7 remaining.
Four of Pitt's first five field goals in the second period came from behind the arc that after the Panthers missed on eight three-pointers in the first stanza.
St. John's reeled off 14 of the game's next 19 points, 12 of those coming in the paint.
Down by 13, Anderson hit her fourth three-pointer of the game to close the gap to 10 (56-46). St. John's, though, responded with a 4-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at 14.
Pitt played catch-up, registering three more triples in the final three minutes of the game - but could get no closer than eight points off a triple by Jania Sims with 1:38 to play. Nadirah McKenith for St. John's went 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to help the Red Storm secure the win.
