Panthers Power Past Northwestern Behind Liatu King's Huge Night, 72-60

Friday, November 26

St. Thomas, USVI

5:45 PM

Pitt

5-1,0-0ACC

Northwestern

4-2,0-0Big Ten

Northwestern

Pittsburgh

Panthers Power Past Northwestern Behind Liatu King's Huge Night, 72-60

11/26/2021 10:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

ST. THOMAS, USVI – Powered by sophomore Liatu King, the Pitt women's basketball team (5-1, 0-0 ACC) collected a 72-60 victory over Northwestern on Friday night in the second game of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. King was unstoppable as she netted a career-high 23 points and tied a career-high with 19 rebounds in her second straight double-double.

King had her best game of her career when the Panthers needed it the most as they were without their two leading scorers from last season, Jayla Everett and Dayshanette Harris. She set a new career-high with 23 points on 7-of-13 from the floor and a career-best 9-of-12 from the free throw line. The Washington, DC native is the first Panther with at least 19 rebounds in back-to-back games since Chelsea Cole in 2010.

Pitt got off to a great start as Rita Igbokwe finished off a layup and King finished off a three-point play to give the Panthers the 5-2 lead two minutes in. Emy Hayford extended the Pitt lead to 8-2 but the Wildcats were able to cut into the lead and make it 8-7 in favor of the Panthers at the media timeout. Pitt finished the quarter on a 6-2 run thanks to a triple by Taisha Exanor as they took the 18-13 lead into the second quarter.

Pitt was able to push their lead out to eight, 22-14, early in the second quarter as Tracey Hueston finished off a hook shot and King made a turnaround jumper. The Wildcats cut back into the Pitt lead just before the media timeout as they finished off a three-point play to make it 22-19 at the stoppage. After the break, Sandrine Clesca gave Pitt a boost off the bench as she netted four straight points as she finished off an offensive rebound and layup to make the Pitt lead 26-19. Igbokwe finished the scoring in the half for Pitt as she made a layup and free throw to give the Panthers the 31-24 lead at halftime.

The third quarter was a fun back-and-forth affair as the Wildcats were able to score the first five points of the quarter before Hueston connected on a free throw to end the run. After a pair of Northwestern free throws, Clesca connected on two free throws and a triple to push the Pitt lead to four, 39-35. Maliyah Johnson finished off a nice layup after a great feed from Clesca and Amber Brown netted four points down the stretch of the quarter as Pitt took the seven-point lead to the fourth, 51-44.

King took over in the fourth quarter as she netted 13 points and seven rebounds in the quarter. She netted eight quick points in the quarter to push the Pitt lead out to 63-53 midway through the final frame. The Wildcats got within eight, 65-57, after a layup with three minutes to play but they weren't able to get any closer as the Panthers collected the 72-60 victory.

Clesca was big for Pitt off the bench as she finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists across 23 minutes of work while Igbokwe got back on track with nine points, six rebounds and a block. Brown was impressive as she netted eight points, nine rebounds and two assists while Hayford finished off her night with eight points, three assists and three steals in 30 minutes of action.

As a team, the Panthers shot 40.8% from the floor while they held the Wildcats to just 33.8% shooting for the game. Pitt once again dominated the boards as they held the 54-30 edge on the glass while also producing 20 offensive rebounds and 20 second chance points in the win.

Northwestern was led in scoring by Jillian Brown who netted 14 points while Courtney Shaw had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

NEXT UP

Pitt will be back in action tomorrow at 5:45 pm ET as they close out their Paradise Jam against South Dakota.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the win, Pitt improves to 4-1 all-time against the Wildcats including four straight.
The Panthers are now 3-2 all-time in games at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.
Pitt grabbed 54 rebounds, their third game with 50+ rebounds so far this season.
The Panthers held Northwester to just 33.8% shooting for the game as they have held every opponent this year to less than 45% shooting.
Pitt had 20 offensive rebounds, marking the second game this season with 20+ offensive boards.

Liatu King

King had another career night as she netted a career-best 23 points, 19 rebounds and a block across 32 minutes of work.
She finished the game going 7-of-13 from the floor and 9-of-12 from the free throw line.
She snagged 19 rebounds for the second straight game and she is the first Pitt player since Chelsea Cole in 2009-10 to grabbed at least 19 rebounds in two straight.
The 23 and 19 game marked her second straight double-double.
She has four career games with 10+ rebounds and five games scoring in double figures.
The nine free throw makes and 12 attempts were both career-highs.

Sandrine Clesca

Clesca came off the bench and posted a big night for the Panthers as she notched nine points, a career-high four rebounds and three assists across 23 minutes of work.
She finished off her night going 2-of-4 from the floor, 1-of-1 from deep and 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the win.
The four rebounds marked a career-high and the three offensive boards were also a career-high.

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