Growing up in Gloucester, N.J., with 10 brothers and sisters, Agnus Berenato spent a lot of time in the yard playing basketball.

"That's what we did," said Berenato, coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh. "Other [girls] didn't because it wasn't accepted."

That was in the early and mid-1960s, when girls weren't encouraged to play sports and there weren't many organized athletic teams available to them,

Today, Berenato has two daughters playing basketball: Clare, a junior at Oakland Catholic High School, and Chrissy, an eighth-grader at Sacred Heart.

"I didn't have those opportunities," Berenato said. "I'm extremely proud of what my daughters are doing."

Berenato is among 25 women and girls in southwestern Pennsylvania who will be honored for their impact on sports by The Women and Girls Foundation at its annual fund-raiser and awards ceremony.

The event is called Women in Sports: Leveling the Playing Field and will take place Oct. 13 at the East Club Lounge at Heinz Field. Mary Lou Retton will be a guest speaker.

"I'm trying to carry the torch that started with my grandmother and mother and take it to the next level," Berenato said. "The flame will even be bigger when my daughters carry the torch. Times are changing."

The most significant change in women's sports was Title IX, which went into effect in 1973.

"Society made a conscientious decision, not the law, because it's the right thing to do," Berenato said. "We've come a long ways, but we're still far behind. There's a lot of growth left, a lot of work to do."

Susan Bassett, the athletic director at Carnegie Mellon University since 2005, said there is a significant increase in the number of women and girls participating in sports, but not enough advancement when it comes to women in administration positions.

"I definitely would like to see more women in college leadership roles," she said. "Yes, it's disappointing [there aren't more]. I hope I'm a role model for aspiring women who want a career in intercollegiate athletics.

"Right now, 18 to 20 percent of athletic directors across all three NCAA divisions are women. At the time when Title IX came, one in every 27 girls and women participated in sports. Today, it's one in every two.

"I graduated high school in 1975. I really benefited from Title IX."

But the number of women coaching college athletics hasn't changed much over the years.

"When I was the swimming coach of the men's team at Union College from 1987 to '95," Bassett said, "96 percent of the coaches were men. When I was women's coach at William Smith College from 1980 to '87, 86 percent of the coaches were men. I was in a minority on both counts."

She added after a pause, "The statistics don't lie. The percentages still are pretty much the same as they were back then. I hope to keep promoting the need for more women in leadership roles."

The honorees

Shelly Anderson, sports writer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Susan Bassett, Carnegie Mellon athletic director; Agnus Berenato, Pitt women's basketball coach; Leslie Bonci, adjunct professor of nutrition and sports dietitian, UPMC; Suzy Broadhurst, three-time West Penn Amateur golf champion and director of corporate giving, Eat N' Park; Swin Cash, player for the WNBA's Detroit Shock.

Teresa Conn, player/owner of the Pittsburgh Passion, 2007 champion of the National Women's Football Association; Susan Frietsche, lead attorney on the Slippery Rock University Title IX case; Jan Gallaway, member of Pittsburgh Puffins in Women's Hockey League; Leah Gray, president of Women's Division of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association; Cindy Himes, director of communications and alumni relations for the Penguins; Ariko Iso, athletic trainer for the Steelers..

Elaine Jewart, founder and owner of Jewart's Gymnastics; Phyllis Jones, coach of the Westinghouse High School girls' basketball team; Victoria Lewis, 14, gymnast at Woodland Hills High School; Anne Madarasz, director of Heinz History Sports Museum; Suzie McConnell-Serio, coach of the Duquesne University women's basketball team; Sonya Narla, multi-sport standout at Winchester-Thurston; Patricia Paytas, vice president of community and public affairs for the Pirates.

Katherine Pippy, manager and founder of the Girls' Ice Hockey League of Western Pennsylvania; Becky Reitmeyer, director Pittsburgh Sports League; Carol Semple-Thompson, premier amateur women's golfer in the area for the past three decades; Keturah Vactor, 14, standout basketball player and instructor at Boys and Girls Club; Marcedes Walker, center for Pitt's basketball team; and Elise Roby Yanders, financial manager for female athletes, Merrill Lynch.