Pitt
(10-14, 2-9ACC)
Louisville
(19-6, 11-1ACC)
Pitt Drops to No. 12 Louisville, 84-61
2/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BOX SCORE | SEASON STATISTICS | McCONNELL-SERIO INTERVIEW | HIGHLIGHTS
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh women’s basketball team dropped an 84-61 decision to No. 12 Louisville on Thursday night at the Petersen Events Center.
The Panthers (10-14, 2-9 ACC) were led in the scoring column by sophomore Stasha Carey with 21 points and freshman Brenna Wise with 13, but Louisville’s sophomore tandem of Myisha Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore combined for 50 points, including a career-high 29 for Hines-Allen.
The Panthers trailed by just seven points in the early stages of the fourth quarter, but Hines-Allen and Moore engineered an 18-4 run down the stretch for Louisville (19-6, 11-1 ACC) which put the game out of reach.
Pitt shot 46.9 percent for the game (23-of-49), while Louisville connected on 58.2 percent (32-of-55). Louisville also held a 34-18 rebounding advantage which resulted in outscoring Pitt 18-4 in second-chance points.
“Defending Louisville is so tough,” head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said. “They can beat you in so many ways. Stasha Carey was tremendous in the starting lineup for us, and Destinie Gibbs provided really solid minutes off the bench. To beat a team like Louisville, the margin of error has to be so small and unfortunately we made too many mistakes tonight.”
The Cardinals scored the first six points of the game, but the Panthers then used a 10-3 run, capped by a Fred Potvin 3-pointer, which gave Pitt its first lead of the game at 10-9. The two teams would go back and forth for the remainder of the quarter and the Panthers led 22-21 after the opening 10 minutes.
The second quarter featured three early lead changes, but then Louisville outscored Pitt 17-5 down the stretch to lead 40-29 at the half. Both Carey and Wise had nine points at the break to lead Pitt.
Carey poured in eight more points in the third to help the Panthers outscore Louisville 20-18 in the quarter, but Pitt trailed 58-49 entering the final period.
A pair of free throws from Destinie Gibbs in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter cut Louisville’s lead to 58-51, but it would be all Cardinals down the stretch as Louisville ultimately outscored Pitt 26-12 in the final 10 minutes.
Gibbs contributed 29 minutes off the bench for the Panthers, adding six points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal.
The Cardinals have now won 16 of their last 17 games.
WATCH: Players press conference - Carey, Gibbs and Wise
Pitt now begins a two-game road trip, starting on Sunday afternoon at Virginia Tech. Tip is set for 2 p.m.
