Pitt Edged Out By Boston College On Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, January 5

Pittsburgh, Pa.

2:00 PM

Pitt

3-11,0-3ACC

Boston College

8-6,1-2ACC

Boston College

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Alex Mowrey/Pitt Athletics

Pitt Edged Out By Boston College On Sunday Afternoon

1/5/2020 5:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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PITTSBURGH – Despite jumping out to a 10-point first half lead, the University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team saw their chances at a first ACC win slip away late in the fourth quarter to Boston College in front of 3,791 fans at the Petersen Events Center on Sunday afternoon. The 79-70 defeat marked the third straight ACC loss to open conference play, all three losses coming by single digits.

"I thought, overall, to have 21 assists and 14 turnovers that was one of the best games we've had so far this season," stated head coach Lance White. "Again, I thought that we gave up too many offensive boards down the stretch that we can't give up in order to win games like this but overall, we're growing. We're still just not there yet and it's really frustrating."

The Pitt offense had their best start of the season on Sunday afternoon as Rita Igbokwe came off the bench early on and netted six quick points before Gabbie Green buried back-to-back triples to give the Panthers the 12-5 lead and forced the Eagles to take a timeout. Pitt pushed their lead out to 10, 15-5, with five minutes left in the opening quarter as Marcella Lamark scored three straight but the Eagles closed out the quarter on a 8-2 run as Pitt took the 17-13 lead into the second.

After Cara Judkins opened the second quarter with a layup, the Eagles went on an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 24-19, to force a Pitt timeout. Out of the timeout, Green knocked down her third triple of the game and Lamark finished off a layup to tie the game, 24-24. After some back-and-forth play, the half ended with Green connecting at the buzzer with her fourth three of the half as the Eagles went to the locker room leading Pitt, 36-35.

The Eagles came out of the locker room strong as they went on a 14-4 run midway through the quarter to take their biggest lead of the game, 50-39. The youthful Panthers fought right back over the final five minutes of the quarter as Emy Hayford knocked down a triple and Amber Brown scored six straight points to tie the game at 50. The Eagles made a layup in the final minute to take the 57-54 lead but Jahsyni Knight closed out the quarter with a great move to get into the lane and she finished off the floater at the buzzer to send the game to the fourth with Boston College clinging to the slim 57-56 lead.

Aysia Bugg opened the scoring in the fourth for the Panthers as she netted a triple and Judkins finished off a layup in the lane as Pitt regained the 61-59 lead with just under nine minutes to play. After four quick points by the Eagles, Bugg responded with four straight to make the Pitt lead 65-63 with six minutes to go. The final six minutes of play were owned by the Eagles however as they finished the game on a 16-5 run to claim their first ACC victory of the season. Marnelle Garraud got free for back-to-back triples to extend the Boston College lead out to six, 74-68, and the Eagles never looked back as they earned the 79-70 road victory.

The Panthers were led offensively by a pair of newcomers as junior Gabbie Green netted 12 points, all in the first half, across 33 minutes of work while Igbokwe finished off her career game with a career-best 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 24 minutes off the bench. Dayshanette Harris did a little bit of everything on Sunday as she netted five points, a career-high eight rebounds, six assists and two steals in 29 minutes of work off the bench. Bugg closed out her afternoon with 10 points, six assists and two steals while Lamark chipped in with a career-high nine points and two assists across a career-high 13 minutes of action in the loss.

As a team, the Panthers shot just 39.7% from the floor while the Eagles were able to connect on 50% of their field goal attempts. The Eagles won the rebounding battle, 41-35, but the Panthers were able to snag 15 offensive rebounds and turned those chances into 11 points. The Pitt defense forced 18 BC turnovers and netted 23 points off of those chances while the bench contributed with a season-high 31 points in the loss for the Panthers.

NEXT UP

Pitt will hit the road for their next ACC contest as they travel to Blacksburg, Va. to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies at 7:00 pm.
The Panthers stay on the road on Thursday, Jan. 16 as they head south to take on the Clemson Tigers at 7:00 pm.

PITT NOTES
TEAM

With the loss, Pitt is now 18-29 all-time against the Eagles and have lost three straight in the series.
The 31 points off the bench were a season-high for the Panthers.
The 21 assists on 27 made field goals were a season-high for Pitt.
Pitt now has four games this season with 70+ points scored.

Gabbie Green

Finished off her afternoon with 12 points, one rebound and one assists across 33 minutes of work.
Went 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Her four three-pointers, all in the first half, tied a career-high for the junior.
She has now connected on at least two three-pointers in five straight games for the first time in her career.
In ACC play, Green is shooting 50% from behind the arc while connecting on nine three-pointers for Pitt.
She has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time and for the fifth time overall this season.
The junior has played 20+ minutes in all 14 games while going over the 30-minute plateau eight times including in each of her last three games.

Rita Igbokwe

Came off the bench and had a strong game for the Panthers as she netted a career-high 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals across 24 minutes.
Finished the game going 6-for-10 from the floor while also collecting three offensive rebounds.
She now has a team-high eight multi-block efforts including three games with at least four swats for the Panthers.
The freshman has recorded multiple blocks in two straight games and in four of her last five contests.
She leads the team and ranks second in the ACC with 30 blocks so far this season.

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