Sunday, January 13
Pittsburgh, Pa.
1 PM
Pitt
55
vs
59
Boston College
Panthers Put Up Resilient Effort In Loss To Boston College, 59-55
1/13/2019 4:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
PITTSBURGH – On a day that the Panthers honored legendary former player Lorri Johnson with her jersey being retired, the University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team (9-8, 0-3 ACC) put forth a strong effort on the court but just came up short against the Boston College Eagles, falling 59-55. The Panthers and Eagles put on a show in front of 2,630 fans inside the Petersen Events Center on Sunday afternoon.
"Obviously, we are really disappointed and this one hurts in a lot of ways," said head coach Lance White. "You start conference play at Notre Dame and at NC State, two top ten teams, we are a team that is still growing and we're not ready for that just yet. Coming here today against a team that I think we matched up great with and fought our guts out and just couldn't make enough plays to get the win. We are growing and learning, and in the ACC you can't have that many missed free throws and missed assignments and win games."
Jasmine Whitney led the way for the Panthers offense on Sunday as she notched her second 20+ point scoring game of the season, finishing with 20 points, a career-high six steals, five rebounds and four assists across 37 minutes. Whitney finished the game going 6-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-6 from behind the arc, a new season-high for three pointers made.
The Panthers were able to get out to a quick start on Sunday as Cassidy Walsh netted a pair of buckets to open the scoring before Kauai Bradley and Kyla Nelson netted layups to give Pitt the 8-3 lead at the first media timeout. After a quick 5-0 run got the Eagles within two, 10-8, out of the media timeout, the Panthers were able to end the quarter with five straight as Whitney netted a triple and Danielle Garven drilled a jumper to give Pitt the 15-8 lead after one.
Pitt opened the second quarter with a pair of buckets as Cara Judkins finished off a layup and Garven drilled her second jumper of the game to give the Panthers the 17-10 edge early on. The Eagles responded quickly, however, as they used a 7-0 run to take the 20-19 lead and force a Panther timeout midway through the quarter. The Eagles extended the lead out to 29-24 with five seconds left in the first half but Whitney had a flair for the dramatic as she drained a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to cut the BC lead to two, 29-27, at half.
The two teams went back-and-forth to start the third quarter as Garven made a pair of layups and Bradley finished off a fast break layup after a great feed from Garven to tie the game, 33-33, midway through the quarter. A Whitney steal and layup gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 35-34, but the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to take the 40-35 lead and force Pitt to take a timeout. Whitney drilled a triple but the Eagles finished off a layup to send the teams to the final quarter with Boston College leading 44-39.
As the fourth quarter hit, the Panthers showed a sense of urgency as they fought hard against the Eagles. Trailing 47-39 early on in the quarter, Garven recorded a steal and layup to bring the game back within reach at 47-42, but the Panthers wouldn't be able to get any closer down the stretch. The Eagles pushed the lead out to 10 midway through the final frame but the Panthers continued to fight as Whitney drilled a triple to cut the lead to five, 57-52, but the Eagles netted two free throws in the final seconds to ice the game, earning the 59-55 road win.
"The second quarter hurt us and getting down those points in that quarter, not being able to score enough to match them, changed the game," stated White. "The third and fourth quarters I thought we did everything we needed to try and win a game and I was really pleased with what I call stat fillers, kids that do everything; rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, all of those hustle plays that make us the top team we need to become."
Bradley was a statsheet stuffer for the Panthers as she netted six points, a team-high seven rebounds, five steals, two assists and two blocks across a team-high 38 minutes of work. Garven finished off her solid afternoon with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists while going 5-for-10 from the floor. Walsh netted eight points, six rebounds and three assists in the loss while Nelson came off the bench and scored five points and three boards.
As a team, Pitt was outrebounded 40-34 but the Panthers held the 13-11 edge in offensive boards in the loss. Boston College outscored the Panthers 28-24 inside the paint as Pitt drops to 0-6 when they get outscored inside the paint.
UP NEXT:
Team
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"Obviously, we are really disappointed and this one hurts in a lot of ways," said head coach Lance White. "You start conference play at Notre Dame and at NC State, two top ten teams, we are a team that is still growing and we're not ready for that just yet. Coming here today against a team that I think we matched up great with and fought our guts out and just couldn't make enough plays to get the win. We are growing and learning, and in the ACC you can't have that many missed free throws and missed assignments and win games."
Jasmine Whitney led the way for the Panthers offense on Sunday as she notched her second 20+ point scoring game of the season, finishing with 20 points, a career-high six steals, five rebounds and four assists across 37 minutes. Whitney finished the game going 6-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-6 from behind the arc, a new season-high for three pointers made.
The Panthers were able to get out to a quick start on Sunday as Cassidy Walsh netted a pair of buckets to open the scoring before Kauai Bradley and Kyla Nelson netted layups to give Pitt the 8-3 lead at the first media timeout. After a quick 5-0 run got the Eagles within two, 10-8, out of the media timeout, the Panthers were able to end the quarter with five straight as Whitney netted a triple and Danielle Garven drilled a jumper to give Pitt the 15-8 lead after one.
Pitt opened the second quarter with a pair of buckets as Cara Judkins finished off a layup and Garven drilled her second jumper of the game to give the Panthers the 17-10 edge early on. The Eagles responded quickly, however, as they used a 7-0 run to take the 20-19 lead and force a Panther timeout midway through the quarter. The Eagles extended the lead out to 29-24 with five seconds left in the first half but Whitney had a flair for the dramatic as she drained a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to cut the BC lead to two, 29-27, at half.
The two teams went back-and-forth to start the third quarter as Garven made a pair of layups and Bradley finished off a fast break layup after a great feed from Garven to tie the game, 33-33, midway through the quarter. A Whitney steal and layup gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 35-34, but the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to take the 40-35 lead and force Pitt to take a timeout. Whitney drilled a triple but the Eagles finished off a layup to send the teams to the final quarter with Boston College leading 44-39.
As the fourth quarter hit, the Panthers showed a sense of urgency as they fought hard against the Eagles. Trailing 47-39 early on in the quarter, Garven recorded a steal and layup to bring the game back within reach at 47-42, but the Panthers wouldn't be able to get any closer down the stretch. The Eagles pushed the lead out to 10 midway through the final frame but the Panthers continued to fight as Whitney drilled a triple to cut the lead to five, 57-52, but the Eagles netted two free throws in the final seconds to ice the game, earning the 59-55 road win.
"The second quarter hurt us and getting down those points in that quarter, not being able to score enough to match them, changed the game," stated White. "The third and fourth quarters I thought we did everything we needed to try and win a game and I was really pleased with what I call stat fillers, kids that do everything; rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, all of those hustle plays that make us the top team we need to become."
Bradley was a statsheet stuffer for the Panthers as she netted six points, a team-high seven rebounds, five steals, two assists and two blocks across a team-high 38 minutes of work. Garven finished off her solid afternoon with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists while going 5-for-10 from the floor. Walsh netted eight points, six rebounds and three assists in the loss while Nelson came off the bench and scored five points and three boards.
As a team, Pitt was outrebounded 40-34 but the Panthers held the 13-11 edge in offensive boards in the loss. Boston College outscored the Panthers 28-24 inside the paint as Pitt drops to 0-6 when they get outscored inside the paint.
UP NEXT:
- The Panthers will return home on Thursday evening as they welcome nationally ranked Syracuse to the Petersen Events Center for a 7:00 pm tip.
- Following Thursday's ACC matchup against the Orange, Pitt will close out a four-game homestand with games against Clemson (Jan. 20) and Virginia (Jan. 24).
Team
- At halftime, the Panthers honored former great Lorri Johnson by retiring her jersey. Johnson becomes the first Pitt women's basketball player to see her jersey retired.
- With the loss, Pitt falls to 18-28 all-time against the Eagles including a 10-12 mark at home.
- Pitt falls to 9-8 overall and 0-3 in ACC play. The Panthers have now lost nine straight conference games dating back to last season.
- The Panthers started a lineup of Whitney, Walsh, Garven, Bradley and Judkins for the fifth time this year and they are 2-2 in those contests.
- Pitt forced 25 Boston College turnovers and they notched 15 steals, marking the third time this season the defense has forced 15 or more steals.
- The Panthers held the 20-18 edge in points off turnovers while they held the dominant 17-6 edge in fast break scoring in the loss.
- Started her 14 straight game for the Panthers at point guard on Saturday
- Finished off the game with 20 points, marking the second game this season she notched at least 20 points for the Panthers
- Notched a career-high six steals in the loss as she now has nine multi-steal games on the year
- Has scored in double figures seven times on the year
- Also grabbed five rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists across 38 minutes of work
- Started her 13th straight game at forward for the Panthers
- Finished the game with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists
- Has now scored in double figures eight times on the season
- Finished the game playing 31 minutes as she has now played 30+ minutes seven times this season
- Started her ninth game of the season and sixth straight for the Panthers
- Finished her afternoon with six points, a team-high seven rebounds, five steals, two assists and two blocks
- With five steals on Sunday, she has now recorded 10 multi-steal games this season and she has now notched 154 career steals for the Panthers
- She is the lone Panther to start all 17 games this season
- Finished off her afternoon with eight points, six rebounds and three assists
- Has connected on at least one three pointer in 10 straight games for the Panthers
- Played 35 minutes and has now played 30+ minutes a career-high 12 times this season
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Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
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Guard
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