Panthers Drop Road Contest At #3 Louisville Thursday

Thursday, January 6

Louisville, KY

6:00 PM

Pitt

9-5,0-3ACC

Louisville

13-1,3-0ACC

Pittsburgh

Louisville

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Panthers Drop Road Contest At #3 Louisville Thursday

1/6/2022 8:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

LOUISVILLE, KY – The Pitt women's basketball team (9-5, 0-3 ACC) dropped their third straight conference game Thursday night at #3 Louisville, 81-39. The stingy Louisville defense forced Pitt into a season-high 35 turnovers in the loss.

After a slow start offensively that saw the Cardinals race out to a 6-0 lead, the Panthers scored four straight as Emy Hayford netted a free throw and Jayla Everett knocked down a deep triple. The Cardinals went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 14-4 before Taisha Exanor and Rita Igbokwe closed the quarter with buckets to end the first quarter with Louisville leading 19-8.

The Cardinals once again jumped on the Panthers early on in the second quarter as they netted the first eight points before Exanor finished off a layup and Destiny Strother netted a free throw to send the game to the media timeout with Pitt trailing 27-11. After the media, the Cardinals outscored the Panthers 13-2 to take the 40-13 lead into the locker room.

Hayford opened the third with a free throw and a nice layup through traffic but the Cardinals responded with an 8-2 run to push their lead out to 50-18 three minutes into the second half. Cynthia Ezeja netted a layup and Strother stroked a triple to get Pitt within 58-25 with under three minutes to play in the third. Louisville finished off the third with five straight to take the 63-25 lead into the final quarter.

Louisville continued to add to their lead in the fourth quarter as they outscored the Panthers 18-14 across the final 10 minutes of action to secure the 81-39 victory.

Igbokwe led the way Thursday as she finished with six points, a season-high 14 rebounds and two blocks while Hayford finished off her game with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Exanor also netted six points, three rebounds and two steals in the loss.

As a team, Pitt shot 25.9% from the floor while the Cardinals shot 40%. The two sides tied in the rebounding category, 43-43, while Pitt held the 14-13 edge in offensive rebounds. Pitt turned the ball over a season-high 35 times while the Cardinals had only 15 mishaps.

Louisville was led offensively by Emily Engstler who netted 12 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals, two assists and two blocks in the win. Hailey Van Lith also netted 12 points, four assists and three steals while Olivia Cochran finished with 11 points and four boards.

NEXT UP

The Panthers return home for three games next week as they welcome Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 6:00 pm before hosting Boston College Thursday, Jan. 13 at 6:00 pm and Wake Forest on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 2:00 pm.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt falls to 2-22 all-time against Louisville including a 0-11 mark in games played in Louisville. The Cardinals have won 18 straight in the series against Pitt.
The Panthers turned the ball over a season-high 35 times.

Rita Igbokwe

Igbokwe finished off her night with six points, a season-high 14 rebounds (six offensive), two blocks and one assist.
She now has three games this season and 11 games over her career with at least 10 rebounds. It also marked her fourth game this season and 23^rdcareer game leading Pitt in rebounds.
The junior has posted six games this season and 29 games over her career with multiple blocked shots.

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