Pitt women lose a heartbreaker to No. 19 Louisville
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The Pitt women's basketball team dropped its 11th consecutive game tonight but the Panthers did not go down without a fight and clearly pushed No. 19 Louisville to the brink.
The Cardinals fought back from a late 7-point deficit to tie the game in regulation and then took control in overtime to come away with a 71-66 decision before a crowd of 1,555 at the Petersen Events Center.
The Cardinals (19-7, 8-5 in the Big East) led 30-27 at the half and quickly pushed its lead 34-27 with consecutive layups but Ashlee Anderson made a 3-pointer with 18 minutes to play and that seemed to give the Panthers life.
Anderson then made two free throws with 11:58 to play to pull the Panthers to within two points -- 41-39 -- and Brianna Kiesel hit a jumper to tie the game at 41-41 with 11:22 to play.
Kyra Dunn gave the Panthers their first lead since early in the game at 43-41with a putback with 10:27 to play and that grew into a 14-3 run which gave the Panthers a seven-point lead, 51-44, with 5:59 to play.
Louisville closed the gap to within three points -- 53-50 -- with 3:30 to play after four consecutive free throws but Kiesel responded with two free throws to stretch the Panthers lead back to five.
But at that point it turned into the Shoni Shimmel show, as the Cardinals sophomore hit a jumper in the lane with 2:21 to play, then after a Louisville steal, tied the game with a deep 3-pointer with 1:57 to play and gave the Cardinals a 2-point lead with a short jumper at the 1:50 mark.
Leeza Burdgess put the Panthers back in the lead with an old fashioned 3-point play at the 1:22 mark then Antonita Slaughter tied the game with 1:01 to play with a free throw. Kyra Dunn then made two free throws to give the Panthers a 60-58 lead with 26 seconds to play but Slaughter sent the game into overtime with a baseline jumper with 14 seconds left.
Pitt did have one more possession to try and win in regulation but Kiesel's driving jumper missed the mark and the Cardinals cleared the rebound.
The teams traded early scores in overtime before Shawnta' Dyer made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Cardinals a 67-66 lead with 2:13 to play.
However, on the ensuing possession, the Panthers threw the ball away in the backcourt against the Cardinals press and Louisville made it hurt when Bria Smith drove the lane and made a lay-up to stretch the lead to 69-66 with 1:42 to play.
Louisville got a steal on the Panthers next possession and was able to hold on and put the game away at the free throw line.
Pitt (8-17, 0-12) was led by Kiesel and Anderson, who scored 22 points each, and the Panthers also got eight points and ten rebounds from Dunn.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter @paulzeise
First Published February 14, 2012 9:23 pm
