Pitt
Robert Morris
Women's Hoops Downs Robert Morris, 66-36
12/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2005
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Halfway through the first frame of Tuesday night's Pitt women's basketball game at Robert Morris, the host Colonials held a 13-6 advantage but things changed quickly and drastically as the Panthers scored 60 of the game's final 83 points for a 66-36 victory.
The Panthers (6-2) improved to 23-0 against Robert Morris (3-3), forcing 20 RMU turnovers and shooting 58.3 percent on three-pointers, the third time in eight games Pitt made at least half of its attempts from beyond the arc.
Freshman Maddy Brown (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) led the Panthers with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a 3-of-5 performance on three-pointers. Brown also had five rebounds in just 24 minutes of action. Junior point guard Mallorie Winn (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's/Georgia Tech) made five of her eight field-goal attempts and all three of her 3-pointers for 15 points, two rebounds and three assists.
Also scoring in double-figures for the Panthers was freshman guard Shavonte Zellous (Orlando, Fla./Jones), with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, as well as a team-best four assists, two blocks and two steals. All of those were season-bests for the redshirt.
After Pitt's Cheron Taylor (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) opened the scoring just 11 seconds in, Robert Morris went on a 13-4 run to take a seven-point lead. DeSheyna Perry had nine of RMU's first 13 points and finished with a game-high 18 points.
An 8-0 run by the Panthers included a three-point play by Xenia Stewart (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and a three-pointer by Winn to give Pitt the lead again at 14-13. Another three-pointer by Perry put the Colonials back on top but Pitt responded again - this time with a 14-0 run, including seven straight points by Brown. Pitt closed the first half with a 10-point lead at 30-20.
The second half was more of the same as the Panthers started on a 17-6 run over the first 10 minutes and finished the second half by outscoring Robert Morris, 36-16, to account for the 30-point victory.
The Colonials' 36 points were the lowest allowed by Pitt in nearly five years - a 77-34 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore in December 2000.
Pitt opens up its Big East schedule on Thursday, Dec. 8, with a home contest against Syracuse at the Petersen Events Center at 7 p.m. The Panthers topped the Orange in their Big East opener last season, a Jan. 2 win at the Manley Field House.
NOTES: The Panthers' 6-2 start is their second consecutive, matching the team's second-best start of all-time...Pitt shot 57 percent from the floor in the first half and finished the game with a 44 percent clip...the Panthers held Robert Morris to just 14-of-53 shooting (26.4 percent) and 3-of-24 from beyond the 3-point line (12.5 percent).
