Pitt
(19-10, 9-7ACC)
Clemson
(9-20, 1-15ACC)
Pitt Defeats Clemson on Senior Day, 61-56
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team (19-10, 9-7 ACC) erased a 15 point first half deficit to defeat the Clemson Tigers (9-20, 1-15 ACC) by the score of 61-56 on Senior Day at the Petersen Events Center.
It was a fitting end forBrianna Kiesel who scored 22 points and added six rebounds, seven assists and two steals in her final act at the Petersen Events Center. In the process, Kiesel passed Marcedes Walker for fifth place on Pitt's career scoring list. She now has 1,884 career points. This was also the 16th time this season Kiesel has scored 20 or more points, which is the second most in the ACC.
Yacine Diop connected on 8-of-10 shots and finished the game with 16 points and seven rebounds. Fellow freshman Stasha Carey had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while senior Monica Wignot had 10 rebounds and two blocks which moved her into third place on Pitt's single-season blocks list with 74.
"Needless to say, the first half was not pretty. I challenged them at halftime and talked about letting something special slip away," head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said. "We came out in the second half and took one possession at a time.
"When you take over a program, you go to your upperclassmen to establish leadership. I couldn't be more proud of our three seniors. The chemistry they have developed with our young players is amazing. This has been a special season and we don't want it to end."
The Panthers were sluggish out of the gates and found themselves trailing 13-4 at the second media timeout of the game.
The cold shooting continued for the Panthers and Nikki Dixon's layup gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the game at 22-7 with 5:07 remaining.
With Pitt trailing 24-12, Diop scored 10 consecutive points for the Panthers and her layup with 1:03 left cut the Clemson lead to 27-22. The Tigers scored the final three points of the half and led 30-22 at the break.
The Panthers shot 32.3 percent in the opening half, but made seven of their final 13 shots. Diop had 12 points and five rebounds at the break to lead the Panthers.
Pitt continued the momentum it built at the end of the first half by making five of its first seven shots to open the second stanza, which trimmed the lead to 36-33 at the first media timeout.
The comeback trail continued and Kiesel's and-1 gave the Panthers their first lead of the game at 41-40 with 11:53 remaining in the game.
The Tigers would not go away without a fight though, and Clemson regained a 50-49 lead on a deep 3-pointer from Tiffany Lewis with 7:09 left.
But it was all Pitt down the stretch. Chelsea Welch kick-started a decisive 9-0 run with a triple of her own at the 4:42 mark which put the Panthers ahead for good. All three Pitt freshmen would then contribute in the scoring column during the run, and Kiesel and Wignot iced the game at the free throw line.
The Panthers out-rebounded the Tigers by 10 and assisted on 16 of their 22 made field goals. Nikki Dixon had 22 points to lead the Tigers, who were sent to their 15th straight loss.
Pitt, who was picked to finish last in the ACC this season, earned a 7-seed and a first round bye in this week's upcoming ACC Tournament. The Panthers will play on Thursday night at 6 p.m. with the opponent still to be determined.
