Pitt Battles But Falls At Home To #19 Notre Dame Sunday, 77-63

Sunday, January 23

Pittsburgh, Pa.

2:00 PM

Pitt

10-9,1-7ACC

Notre Dame

14-4,5-2ACC

Notre Dame

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Alex Mowrey/Pitt Athletics

Pitt Battles But Falls At Home To #19 Notre Dame Sunday, 77-63

1/23/2022 5:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats Press Conference Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team (10-9, 1-7 ACC) put up a strong fight but fell at the Petersen Events Center Sunday afternoon to #19 Notre Dame (14-4, 5-2 ACC), 77-63. The Panthers had three players score in double figures in the loss.

Senior Jayla Everett led the way with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals across 34 minutes of work Sunday. Off the bench, Destiny Strother netted 14 points while knocking down four triples and Dayshanette Harris finished her game with 12 points, five assists and two steals in the loss.

The two sides opened the game exchanging scores as four different Panthers netted baskets through the first four minutes of play. After buckets by Everett, Harris and Rita Igbokwe opened the scoring, junior Emy Hayford finished off a driving layup to tie the game, 8-8, midway through the quarter. After the media timeout, Strother took over the scoring load as she netted back-to-back triples to give Pitt the 14-8 lead with just over four minutes to play. Harris finished the scoring for Pitt in the quarter with a jumper but the Irish got a layup late to take the 17-16 lead into the second.

The second quarter was another back-and-forth affair as the Panthers were able to outscore the Irish 23-22 in the second 10 minutes. The Irish opened the quarter with three first three buckets to take the 22-16 lead but Strother responded with back-to-back triples to cut the Pitt deficit to two, 24-22, with 7:45 left in the first half. Notre Dame came back and extended their lead to five, 31-26, at the media timeout after a pair of Olivia Miles free throws. Out of the media timeout, Pitt went on a 7-2 run capped by a Maliyah Johnson three-pointer to tie the game at 33. Harris gave the Panthers a three-point lead, 39-36, with under a minute to play but the Irish netted a triple in the final minute to send the teams to half tied, 39-39.

The Irish went up four early in the third, 43-39, but Everett knocked down a triple and Taisha Exanor finished off a fast break layup to give Pitt the lead back, 44-43. The next three minutes were dominated by the Irish as they went on a 9-2 run to regain the 52-46 lead at the third quarter media timeout. Everett finished off another jumper late in the quarter to give her 10 points in the quarter and cut the Pitt deficit to three, 58-55, but the Irish closed the quarter strong with the final five points to take the 62-55 lead into the fourth.

Pitt was able to cut their deficit to three, 62-59, early in the final quarter as Igbokwe finished off an offensive rebound with a layup but the Panthers offense struggled over the final eight minutes. Pitt was outscored 15-4 over the final eight minutes as they went 1-for-14 from the floor across the final eight minutes and Notre Dame pulled away late to secure the 77-63 road victory.

Igbokwe had a strong game for the Panthers as she finished with eight points, a game-high 13 rebounds and five blocks in 25 minutes of work. Igbokwe now has four games with 10+ rebounds this season while also posting three games with five blocks. She has recorded at least one block in an ACC-leading 12 games.

Off the bench, Exanor finished with six points, two rebounds and a steal while Hayford had two points, three assists and two rebounds in 10 minutes of work.
As a team, the Irish shot 45% from the floor while they limited Pitt to 34.7% shooting. Notre Dame held the 43-38 edge in rebounds while Pitt grabbed 16 offensive boards compared to just 10 for the visitors. The Irish went 19-for-20 (95%) from the free throw line while Pitt was limited to just 4-for-9 from the charity stripe.

Notre dame was led offensively by Maya Dodson who finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks while Olivia Miles netted 14 points, six assists and five rebounds in the win.

NEXT UP

Pitt hits the road for their next two games as they head to Clemson Thursday, Jan. 27 for a 7:00 pm tip on ACC Network Extra and Syracuse Sunday, Jan. 30 for a 12:00 pm tip on ACC Network.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt falls to 4-32 all-time against Notre Dame. The Irish have won 15 of the last 16 games against Pitt and are 16-2 against the Panthers in Pittsburgh.
Pitt grabbed 38 rebounds in the loss and have now posted at least 35 rebounds in all 19 games this season, the longest streak to start a season in program history.
Pitt posted seven blocks, their fifth game this season with at least seven blocks.
The Pitt defense held the Irish to 45.0% shooting in the game as they have held all 19 opponents this year to 45% or less shooting. Pitt is one of four teams in the nation to hold all opponents this season to 45% or less shooting.

Jayla Everett

Everett finished off her night with a team-high 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 33 minutes of work.
She finished her afternoon going 6-of-23 from the floor and 2-of-12 from deep in the loss.
She has scored in double figures in 13 of her 15 games this season while scoring 15+ in seven games. She has 60 career games with 10+ points.
The four assists marked a season-high as she has nine games this season with multiple assists including in three straight games.
The three steals marked a season-high as she has seven multi-steal efforts so far this season. Everett leads Pitt with 21 steals on the year.
She knocked down multiple three-pointers for the ninth time this season and for the 25^th time in her 34 career games as a Panther.
She has now played 30+ minutes in five games this season.