Women’s Hoops Drops Regular Season Finale At Georgia Tech

Sunday, February 28

Atlanta, Ga.

2:00 PM

Pitt

5-13,3-12ACC

Georgia Tech

14-7,12-6ACC

Pittsburgh

Georgia Tech

Women’s Hoops Drops Regular Season Finale At Georgia Tech

2/28/2021 4:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats ACC Only Stats

ATLANTA, GA – The Pitt women's basketball team (5-13, 3-12 ACC) closed out their regular season on Sunday afternoon with a road loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 65-60. Pitt has earned the #12 seed for the ACC Tournament which will begin on Wednesday afternoon as the Panthers will play #13 seed Boston College.

Junior Jayla Everett had a huge afternoon in the loss as she netted a Pitt career-high 25 points onn8-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-8 from deep. She has scored 20+ points a team-high six times this year. With her 20^th point of the game, Everett surpassed the 900 career point plateau

The Yellow Jackets pushed the pace early in the first quarter as they gathered a 9-2 lead but Pitt responded with a 6-2 run as Amber Brown, Sandrine Clesca and Jayla Everett each finished off layups to make the score 11-8 in favor of the home team at the first media timeout. Everett finished off the quarter with five straight points for the Panthers as they entered the second trailing Georgia Tech 15-13.

After Georgia Tech opened the second quarter with a triple, Clesca knocked down a jumper and Everett scored five straight to make the score 22-20 in favor of the home team. The Yellow Jackets responded with four straight to take the 26-21 lead into the media timeout. Emy Hayford and Tracey Hueston finished the scoring in the first half for the Panthers with a layup and jumper as Pitt entered the locker room trailing 32-25.

Everett and Clesca opened the third quarter with back-to-back jumpers to get Pitt within three, 32-29, but the Yellow Jackets responded with six straight to push their lead back to nine, 38-29. Sophomore Rita Igbokwe got into the action midway through the quarter as she scored four straight to cut the Pitt deficit to seven, 42-35, at the media timeout. The Yellow Jackets made the lead 11, 46-35, late in the quarter but Pitt responded with seven straight as Taisha Exanor knocked down a triple and Clesca finished a jumper to force Georgia Tech into a timeout with Pitt trailing 46-42. The Yellow Jackets got the final bucket of the third to take the 48-42 lead into the fourth.

The Yellow Jackets opened up the final quarter on a 6-1 run to push their lead to 11, 54-43, but the Panthers came right back. Hayford finished off a layup and Igbokwe and Hueston each notched three-point plays to make the score 56-51 at the final media timeout. Everett got Pitt within three, 60-57, late in the quarter but the Yellow Jackets responded with a triple of their own to make it 63-57 with just over a minute to play. Everett made a pair of free throws but the Panthers weren't able to finish off the comeback as they fell 65-60 on the road on Sunday.

Igbokwe finished off her strong game with nine points and three rebounds while Cynthia Ezeja had a monster game on the glass as she grabbed a career-high 13 boards, five offensive in the loss. Clesca made her second straight start at point guard and finished with eight points, two rebounds and an assist in 27 minutes of work. Hayford went for six points and a team-high five assists while Hueston netted five points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block in the loss.

As a team, Pitt shot 40% from the floor while the Yellow Jackets were held to just 36.1% shooting from the floor and 26.1% from behind the arc. Pitt won the rebounding battle 41-35 as well as the bench scoring battle 14-0.

Georgia Tech was led offensively by Lotta-Maj Lahtinen who netted 22 points and five rebounds while Kierra Fletcher added 21 points in the win.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt is now 3-7 all-time against the Yellow Jackets including a 2-3 mark in games played in Atlanta. Georgia Tech has also won four straight in the series.
The Panthers grabbed 41 rebounds in the loss, their 13^th game this season with 40+ rebounds.
Pitt also grabbed 12 offensive boards in the loss, their 17^th game this season with at least 10 offensive rebounds.

Jayla Everett

Everett finished off her big afternoon with 25 points, three steals, two rebounds, an assist and a block across 34 minutes of work.
She finished off her game going 8-for-15 from the floor, 3-for-8 from deep and 6-for-9 from the free throw line.
The 25-point effort marked her Pitt career-high as she has surpassed the 20-point plateau six times this season and in 13 games across her career.
With her 20^th point on Sunday, Everett surpassed the 900 career points plateau. Everett played two years at New Mexico before transferring to Pitt this year.
Led Pitt in scoring a team-high 10 times
She has now netted at least two triples in 15 games this season and at least three triples in 10 games.
She has scored in double figures in 14 games this season and in 45 career games in her career.
Has 14 games this season with 30+ minutes played and 40 across her career.

NEXT UP

Pitt earned the #12 seed for the upcoming ACC Tournament and will play host to the #13 seed Boston College Eagles on Wednesday, Mar. 3 at 2:00 pm at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. Wednesday's game will air on RSN (AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh locally).

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