Strong Start Not Enough As Panthers Fall At Virginia Tech

Thursday, December 10

Blacksburg, VA

6:00 PM

Pitt

2-2,0-1ACC

Virginia Tech

6-0,1-0ACC

Pittsburgh

Virginia Tech

Strong Start Not Enough As Panthers Fall At Virginia Tech

12/10/2020 8:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Season Stats

BLACKSBURG, VA – Despite shooting 75% from the floor across the first 20 minutes of play, the Pitt women's basketball team (2-2, 0-1 ACC) dropped their ACC opener on the road to Virginia Tech Thursday night, 88-71. Dayshanette Harris and Jayla Everett go over the 20-point plateau in the loss for the Panthers.

Harris had her best game of the season in the loss as she netted a season-best 22 points, a career-high nine assists, five rebounds and three steals in 32 minutes. Everett finished off her strong night with her third straight 20+ point effort as she netted 21 points and two rebounds while connecting on a season-best six three-pointers. Harris and Everett are the first set of Pitt teammates to net 20+ points each since Danielle Garven and Cassidy Walsh did it against North Carolina in 2018.

The Pitt offense was on fire to start the game Thursday as they opened up 10-for-11 from the floor and 5-for-5 from behind the arc through five minutes. Everett led the charge offensively early on as she netted 11 early points while going 3-for-3 from deep before Harris got into the action with eight points of her own. After a Virginia Tech layup cut the Pitt lead to five, Emy Hayford connected on a triple and a jumper to send the game to the media timeout with Pitt leading 26-16. Harris and Amber Brown closed out the scoring in the quarter as Pitt earned the 32-25 lead through 10 minutes of work.

The second quarter was tightly contested by both teams as the Panthers were able to outscore the Hokies 16-15 in the quarter. Gabbie Green opened the quarter with a triple and Liatu King netted back-to-back layups to give the Panthers the 39-28 lead just over three minutes into the quarter. A Virginia Tech triple cut the Pitt lead to three, 40-37, but Everett responded with a three of her own and Harris finished off a layup and free throw to give Pitt the 48-40 lead heading into halftime.

As a team, the Panthers shot 18-for-24 (75%) from the floor while Harris and Everett each netted a game-high 15 first half points.

The Hokies used a strong start to the third quarter to gain their first leads of the game as they scored the first eight points of the half. After a quick 6-0 spurt for Pitt thanks to an Everett triple and Hayford layup and free throw, the Hokies knocked down back-to-back triples to take the 57-56 lead at the media timeout of the third. Harris took over down the stretch for Pitt as she scored the final five points to send the game to the fourth tied, 63-63.

The fourth quarter didn't go the Panthers way as the Hokies were able to outscore Pitt 25-8 across the final 10 minutes of play as they connected on 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

Hayford came off the bench and provided Pitt with a spark as she netted a season-best 10 points, four rebounds and two assists across 18 minutes of work while Brown finished off her night with seven points and five rebounds in 27 minutes.

As a team, Pitt finished the game shooting 44.3% from the floor while also connecting on 9-for-16 (56.3%) from behind the arc. Pitt was outrebounded 37-31 for the game while the Hokies also turned 16 offensive rebounds into 25 second chance points.

The Hokies were led offensively by Cayla King who netted 29 points and six rebounds while connecting on seven three-pointers in the win. Aisha Sheppard finished with 17 while Elizabeth Kitley had 15 points, nine boards and six assists.

UP NEXT

Pitt will return home for their second ACC game of the season Sunday, Dec. 13 as they welcome the Clemson Tigers to the Petersen Events Center. Tip is set for 12:00 pm and the game will air on the ACC Network.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt falls to 5-11 all-time against the Hokies.
The Panthers fall to 0-8 all-time in ACC openers.
Pitt shot 44.3% from the floor, marking the fourth straight game that Pitt has shot over 40% from the floor to start the season.

Jayla Everett

Everett had another strong game for Pitt as she went over the 20-point plateau for the third straight game as she finished with 21 points and two boards.
She finished the game going 7-for-19 from the floor and 6-for-9 from behind the arc in the loss. The six three-pointers were a season-high for the junior.
Everett has now scored 20+ points in three straight games as she has 10 career games with 20+ points scored. It marks the first time in her career she has scored at least 20 in three straight games.
Everett now has 36 career games scoring in double figures.

Dayshanette Harris

Harris finished off her best game of the season with 22 points, nine assists, five rebounds and three steals across 32 minutes of work.
The 22-point game marked her seventh career game with 20+ points.
The nine assists marked a career-high for Harris who had a previous career-best of six helpers.
She now has 20 career games scoring in double figures while leading Pitt in scoring 14 times.
Her three steals were a season-high as she has led Pitt in steals 18 times across her young career.