ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Five years ago, Pitt women's basketball coach Agnus Berenato went into the West Philadelphia house of a highly recruited star post player from University City High School named Marcedes Walker and sold her on a dream.

That dream was simple: If Ms. Walker came to the University of Pittsburgh -- a program that hadn't had a winning season in five years and had never been to the NCAA tournament -- instead of one of the high-profile programs like Rutgers that was recruiting her, Ms. Berenato would make her a star and together they'd turn the Panthers into one of the best women's programs in the country.

Ms. Berenato sold two other players that year -- Mallorie Winn and Karlyle Lim -- on the same dream and began to build a program. By year three, she had the Panthers in the WNIT; in year four, she had them in the NCAA tournament for the first time.

And that dream came one step closer to reality last night when the Panthers upset Baylor, 67-59, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. It is the kind of victory that Ms. Berenato called a "program-changer" and one that left no doubt that the Panthers have arrived as a major player.

"One of our basketball alumni, Debbie Lewis, came up to me after the game and gave me a big hug and told me 'I've been waiting for this for 25 years,' " Ms. Berenato said. "These kids on this team aren't that old to remember, and I want them to enjoy this right now.

"We are just delighted, we showed tremendous heart and soul, the heart of a lion and I'm just really proud of these girls and especially our seniors, Mallorie Winn, Marcedes Walker and Karlyle Lim, for all of the sacrifices they've made and all of the struggles they've been through to make this moment possible.

"What those three have done for this program, they've changed it forever."

Ms. Lewis, who is a dentist and the head girls' basketball coach at Pittsburgh Schenley High School, didn't decide to make the trip to Albuquerque until last Wednesday but felt there was something special about this team and felt they'd do something special this past weekend. It took everything in her power not to shed a few tears, and by the end of the game, she wore an ear-to-ear smile, one that she said won't go away any time soon.

"This was it, for all of us who have been around this program since the beginning, this is something special," Ms. Lewis said. "For years and years, we've taken a back seat to programs like Penn State and watched local kids go elsewhere -- but it doesn't get any bigger than this, the Sweet 16 and it is Pitt going there. Agnus has built this program to the point where it is something that will put a spotlight on women's basketball in our area for a long time.

"When I go home, I can't wait to talk to all of the players from my era and many friends I have who played at Pitt over the years, this is something we'll talk about for ages. It doesn't matter what happens from here on in, this memory for me -- watching Pitt win like this -- will last forever. And young girls and players now can look at Pitt and know they don't need to go anywhere else to play big-time basketball. This was something special."

Ms. Walker, Ms. Winn and Ms. Lim weren't the only people Ms. Berenato sold her dream to in 2003; she won over Pitt's athletic administration as well. And it didn't take long for her to take the university community by storm.

Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, in fact, has become one of the team's biggest fans and he said a lot of it has to do with the fact that every time they take the court, they make the university proud. He said he never doubted that Ms. Berenato would get the job done; he just didn't think it would happen this fast.

"I really don't think that any of us had any idea this program would be built this fast," Mr. Nordenberg said last night via telephone. "This was a great night for Pitt, but on a grander scale it was also a great night for women's sports in Pittsburgh. And it is more than just the fact that this team has good basketball players -- these are good students, they are role models and they play with a lot of passion. They will be celebrated and deservedly so.

"I think that I have learned a lot and we all can learn a lot from watching Agnus build this program over the past five years."

Although the victory was a big one from historical perspective -- consider, last year was the first year the Panthers had ever been to the NCAA tournament -- it got an added boost from the fact that the Panthers knocked off a perennial powerhouse in women's basketball -- Baylor.

Just three years ago the Lady Bears won the national championship, they had been to the Sweet 16 three out of the last four years and they are coached by one of the profession's biggest stars -- Kim Mulkey. By beating them, the Panthers proved they can compete with the elite programs and in many ways validated that this two-year run is more than just a fluke.

Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said that he expects many more nights like last night because he's been around a lot of big-time programs and clearly Ms. Berenato has built the Panthers, who have won 20 or more games for three years in a row -- another first -- into one.

"Agnus has never been afraid to say she's going to win a national championship some day, and that's the kind of coach I want at every program here at Pitt," Mr. Pederson said. "She's never backed down from that but she has built this program, slowly, steadily and made into a program -- not just a good team, a program that is built for the long haul.

"There were probably a lot of people who told her not to take this job when she did because of the shape that it was in, but she's been a believer and she's inspired us all and proven that you can reach incredible heights if you get good people and you have a good plan."