Pitt Closes Non-Conference Slate With 67-56 Victory Over Holy Cross

Wednesday, December 22

Pittsburgh, Pa.

12:00 PM

Pitt

9-4,0-2ACC

Holy Cross

6-5,0-0Patriot

Holy Cross

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Alex Mowrey/Pitt Athletics

Pitt Closes Non-Conference Slate With 67-56 Victory Over Holy Cross

12/22/2021 3:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team (9-4, 0-2 ACC) closed out their non-conference slate with a 67-56 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Wednesday afternoon inside the Petersen Events Center. With the win, Pitt improved to 9-2 in non-conference action, their best record against non-conference foes since the 2006-07 season.

Jayla Everett led all Pitt scorers with 12 points while Dayshanette Harris had a big afternoon with 11 points, seven rebounds and a team-high five assists in 27 minutes of work. Off the bench, Taisha Exanor tied a career-high with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals while Emy Hayford finished with eight points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals. Liatu King also finished off her afternoon with eight points and six boards while Amber Brown chipped in with seven points, a team-high eight rebounds, three steals and two assists in the win.

Hayford opened the scoring for Pitt on Wednesday as she knocked down a triple before Mary Dunn netted a hook shot to tie the game, 7-7, early on. The Pitt defense began to tighten up which spurred a 13-0 run for the Panthers that featured a triple by Destiny Strother and four points by Hayford making it 20-7 in favor of the Panthers. Pitt closed the quarter with the final four points to take the 24-9 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter was poor offensively for both squads as the two teams only scored seven points each in the 10 minute quarter. Harris started things off with a jumper and free throw before knocking down another jumper a minute later to give Pitt the 29-12 lead. The Crusaders were able to outscore Pitt 4-2 over the final three minutes as Pitt went into the locker room leading 31-16.

The Panthers opened the third quarter with six straight points as Everett and Harris made jumpers while Brown finished off a fast break layup to force Holy Cross to take a timeout with Pitt leading 37-16. Midway through the third King knocked down a pair of free throws to give Pitt their biggest lead of the game, 44-23, but the Crusaders responded with a trio of triples down the stretch of the quarter as Pitt entered the final quarter leading 48-32.

The Crusaders cut the Panthers' lead to single digits, 49-40, just over two minutes into the final quarter but Pitt was able to respond with back-to-back jumpers from Everett and Harris to push the lead back to 13, 53-40. Holy Cross didn't go away as they made the deficit to six, 53-47, after a pair of free throws. On the ensuing trip down the court, Exanor made a great feed to Rita Igbokwe who finished off a layup and then Harris knocked down a jumper to make the Pitt lead 10. The Panthers netted their free throws down the stretch as they secured the 67-56 home win.

As a team, the Panthers shot 42.6% from the floor while holding the Crusaders to 34.3% shooting. Holy Cross was able to hold the 41-38 edge in rebounds while the Pitt bench had a big afternoon, outscoring the Crusaders reserves 31-18 in the win.
Holy Cross was led offensively by Avery LaBarbera who netted 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 37 minutes of work while Madison Demski finished with 12 points and three boards in the loss.

NEXT UP

The Panthers will close out the 2021 calendar year on Thursday, Dec. 30 as they welcome ACC foe Georgia Tech to the Petersen Events Center for a conference game. The Panthers and Yellow Jackets will tip at 4:00 pm and the game will air on ACC Network Extra.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the win, Pitt improves to 2-0 all-time against Holy Cross with both wins coming at the Petersen Events Center.
With the win, Pitt is now 6-1 at home this season. It marks their best start on their home court since 2016-17.
Pitt also improves to 19-3 against teams from the Patriot League all-time.
Pitt is now 9-2 in non-conference games (81.8%), it marks their best winning percentage in non-conference since 2006-07 (82.4%).
The Panthers posted 15 steals in the win, their most this season since notching 17 in the win over LIU on Nov. 17. Pitt has three games with 10+ steals so far this season.
Pitt finished 18-of-23 (78.3%) from the free throw line, the highest team free throw percentage this season. Pitt has eight games this season with 20+ free throw attempts.

Taisha Exanor

Exanor finished off her game with 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and an assist in 24 minutes of work off the bench.
She went 4-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe in the win.
Her 11 points tied a career-high as she has now scored in double figures in two straight games for the first time in her career.
The three steals also tied a career-high as she now has 11 steals on the season.

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