Panthers Fall At Penn State In B1G/ACC Challenge On Thursday

Thursday, December 5

University Park, PA

7:00 PM

Pitt

3-5,0-0ACC

Penn State University

5-4,0-0Big Ten

Pittsburgh

Penn St.

Panthers Fall At Penn State In B1G/ACC Challenge On Thursday

12/5/2019 10:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team (3-5, 0-0 ACC) fell on the road on Thursday night to Penn State in the B1G/ACC Challenge by the score of 78-73. Dayshanette Harris led the Panthers with a career-high 26 points in the loss.

The freshman duo of Harris and Amber Brown continued to lead the way for Pitt as Harris posted an impressive stat line with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals while going 10-for-20 from the floor. Brown posted a career night in the loss as she notched her second straight double-double with a career-high 16 points and 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass.

Gabbie Green opened the scoring for the Panthers on Thursday as she nailed a triple and Rita Igbokwe came off the bench and drained a pair of free throws to give Pitt the 5-2 lead early on. After a 5-0 Penn State spurt gave the home side the 11-7 lead, the Panthers were able to score the final four points of the first quarter to tie things up, 11-11, as Harris hit a floater and Brown finished off a fast break layup.

The Lady Lions were able to get out to a pair of four-point leads through the first five minutes of the second quarter but Harris was able to score buckets both times to cut the Pitt deficit back to two, 19-17, at the media timeout in the second. The Lady Lions ended the first half on a 15-5 run to take the 34-22 lead into the locker room.

Penn State came out of the locker room strong in the third as they knocked down a triple to take the 15-point lead, 41-26, and forced the Panthers to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Igbokwe finished off a layup and Emy Hayford knocked down a three to cut the Pitt deficit to 45-33 with just under five to play in the quarter. The Lady Lions extended their lead out to 53-35 before the Panthers got things going on the offensive end of the court thanks to Harris. The Panthers closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run behind seven points from Harris who went over the 20-point plateau for the second time in her career in just the third quarter. Pitt entered the fourth trailing 53-45.

After Harris grabbed an offensive rebound early on in the fourth, Hayford knocked down her second triple of the game to cut the Pitt deficit to just five, 53-48, and force the Lady Lions to take a timeout. The Lady Lions gained back some momentum out of the timeout as they pushed their lead out to 15, 73-58, with just over four minutes left. Pitt didn't back down however as they fought back with nine straight points behind a pair of threes from Aysia Bugg and Hayford and a layup and free throw from Brown, making the score 73-67 with just over two minutes to play. The Panthers couldn't complete the comeback as Penn State hit some free throws down the stretch to collect the 78-73 victory.

Hayford provided Pitt with a spark off the bench as she netted nine points, three rebounds and two assists while Igbokwe snagged 11 rebounds, four points and four blocks in the loss. Bugg closed out her night with 11 points and four assists while Cara Judkins chipped in with four points and six boards in the losing effort. Junior center Marcella Lamark made her Pitt debut on Thursday after winning an appeal with the NCAA to play immediately after transferring in from Texas Tech. Lamark grabbed three rebounds across seven minutes in her first action for Pitt.

As a team, Pitt shot 33.8% while Penn State was able to shoot 39.1% from the floor. The Panthers and Lady Lions each grabbed 51 rebounds while Pitt turned 23 offensive rebounds into 24 second chance points in the loss.

Penn State got a huge performance from their leading scorer Kamaria McDaniel as she netted a game-high 40 points and seven rebounds while going 14-for-28 from the floor. Siyeh Frazier chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds in the win.

NEXT UP

The Panthers will return home for two straight as they welcome Stony Brook on Sunday, Dec. 8 for a 2:00 pm game. Pitt will then play host to Miami (OH) on Dec. 17 for a 6:30 pm tip on the ACC Network.

PITT NOTES
TEAM

With the loss, Pitt falls to 13-30 all-time against Penn State and 35-89 all-time against B1G teams.
Pitt is now 2-4 all-time in B1G/ACC Challenge contests including 1-1 under Coach White.
The 51 rebounds for the Panthers were a season-high and most in a game by Pitt since 3/2/16 when they snagged 52 boards against North Carolina.

Dayshanette Harris

Finished off her career night with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals across 33 minutes of work.
She finished the night going 10-for-20 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.
Her six rebounds and four steals were both career-highs.
The 26-point effort marked her second 20+ scoring performance of the season and the most points scored by a Pitt freshman in a game since Kalista Walters netted 26 points against Saint Francis (PA) during the 2015-16 season.

Amber Brown

Finished off her second straight double-double with a career-high 16 points and 12 rebounds while going 6-for-14 from the floor across 26 minutes of action.
She now has four double-doubles through eight career games, the most in a season by a Pitt freshman since Brenna Wise had six in 2015-16.
She has now recorded four or more rebounds in all eight of her career games.
She has grabbed 10+ rebounds five times this season.

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