Panthers Fight Back But Fall At #23 North Carolina, 64-54

Thursday, February 10

Chapel Hill, NC

6:00 PM

Pitt

11-12,2-10ACC

North Carolina

19-4,9-4ACC

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Panthers Fight Back But Fall At #23 North Carolina, 64-54

2/10/2022 8:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Pitt women's basketball team (11-12, 2-10 ACC) battled hard but fell on the road to #23 North Carolina on Thursday night at Carmichael Arena, 64-54. Jayla Everett led the way with 18 points while going 4-of-5 from behind the arc.

The Panthers got on the board early as Amber Brown finished off a layup after a great feed by Jayla Everett but the Tar Heels responded with back-to-back triples to take the 10-2 lead and force Pitt into a timeout. Everett was able to finish the quarter with the final five points to send the game to the second with the Panthers trailing 18-7.

The Tar Heels opened the second quarter with three straight points before Everett knocked down a jumper and Destiny Strother nailed her first triple of the game to make the score 21-13 in favor of the home team. North Carolina responded with a 9-0 run thanks to the free throw line to push their lead out to 30-13 with three minutes to go in the first half. Everett hit another triple and Dayshanette Harris finished off a fast break layup to send the teams to half with Pitt trailing 34-18.

Pitt was able to cut their deficit to 13, 38-25, early in the third quarter as Rita Igbokwe finished a layup and Everett buried a triple in front of her bench. The Tar Heels responded with an 11-2 run to push their lead back to 22, 49-27, late in the quarter. Harris knocked down a jumper and Everett scored the final five points of the quarter to make the Panthers deficit 51-34 heading into the fourth.

The Panthers came out strong in the final quarter as they were able to score the first 10 points of the final frame. Igbokwe and Brown finished off layups before Harris netted a pair of buckets to force North Carolina into a timeout with Pitt trailing by seven, 51-44. The Panthers held the Tar Heels scoreless for 7:39 before they finally knocked down a triple to send the game to the media timeout with the home squad up 54-44. The two teams exchanged buckets across the final couple minutes as the Panthers weren't able to get any closer than eight, 56-48, as they fell on the road 64-54.

Pitt was led offensively by Everett who netted 18 points while Brown finished off her night with 14 points and six rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting. Harris netted 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals while Igbokwe finished off her night with seven points, seven rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals in the loss.

For the game, North Carolina held the 43-36 lead in rebounds while the Panthers outscored the Tar Heels 32-18 in the paint. Pitt turned the ball over 22 times in the loss but outscored North Carolina 16-14 in points off of turnovers.

The Tar Heels were led offensively by Deja Kelly who netted 17 points, three rebounds and three assists while Eva Hodgson finished with 14 points and five boards in the win.

NEXT UP

The Panthers return home Sunday afternoon as they welcome the Syracuse Orange to the Petersen Events Center for a 2:00 pm tip. Sunday's game will air on ACC Network with Angel Gray and Chelsea Gray on the call from the Pete.
Sunday's game will be the Panthers' 15^th annual Pink the Pete game to raise awareness for breast cancer.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, the all-time series is now 6-6 with the Tar Heels while North Carolina is 4-1 against Pitt in Chapel Hill.
Pitt grabbed 36 rebounds in the loss and have now posted at least 35 rebounds in all 23 games this season, the longest streak to start a season in program history.
The Pitt defense held the Tar Heels to 32.2% shooting in the game as they have held all 23 opponents this year to 45% or less shooting. Pitt is one of three teams in the nation to hold all opponents this season to 45% or less shooting.
The Panthers have held 15 of 23 opponents to less than 40% shooting this season.

Jayla Everett

Everett finished off her night with a team-high 18 points, two rebounds and two assists across 35 minutes of work.
She finished her game going 7-for-19 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc in the loss.
Everett has now scored 10+ points 16 times this season and led Pitt in scoring nine times.
She has connected on multiple three-pointers in 10 games this season.
The senior has played 30+ minutes seven times on the year.