Duke Sneaks By Pitt In The First Round of the ACC Tournament, 55-52

Wednesday, March 2

Greensboro, NC

3:30 PM

Pitt

11-19,2-16ACC

Duke

17-12,7-11ACC

Pittsburgh

Duke

Duke Sneaks By Pitt In The First Round of the ACC Tournament, 55-52

3/2/2022 7:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

GREENSBORO, NC – Despite holding a 16-point lead in the first half, the Pitt women's basketball team (11-19, 2-16 ACC) fell in the First Round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday evening to the Duke Blue Devils, 55-52.

The Panthers had a shot a clean look at a three-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer but Destiny Strother's attempt bounced off the left side of the rim and Duke secured the come-from-behind victory and advanced to the Second Round to play Miami on Thursday.

Liatu King scored in double figures for the fifth straight game as she led the Panthers with 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes of work. Dayshanette Harris had another solid game at the ACC Tournament as she finished with 11 points and three assists while going 4-for-9 from the floor.

The Panthers were able to race out to a strong start on Wednesday as King got the scoring started with a layup before Harris netted five straight to give Pitt the 11-6 lead just over three minutes in. Taisha Exanor knocked down a triple and Cynthia Ezeja finished off a layup to send Pitt to the first media timeout with the 16-9 lead. Out of the media timeout, the Panthers held Duke scoreless and Exanor and Amber Brown finished off layups to give the Panthers the 20-9 lead through 10 minutes.

After the Blue Devils opened the second quarter with three straight points, the Panthers fought right back with the next eight as Strother and Harris netted back-to-back triples to give Pitt the 28-12 lead three minutes into the quarter. The Blue Devils got within 11, 28-17, just after the media timeout but the Panthers responded with a free throw by Brown and a layup by King to push the lead back to 31-17. Duke was able to score the final five points of the half as Pitt entered the locker room leading 31-22.

After the Blue Devils came out strong to start the third and got the score within 34-31, Pitt fought back and scored six straight as Sandrine Clesca finished a layup and Ezeja finished off an offensive rebound and layup to give the Panthers the 40-31 lead at the media timeout. The Blue Devils came right back and ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to cut the Pitt lead to 40-39 heading to the final quarter.

After Duke took their first lead of the game with a layup to open the fourth quarter, Igbokwe finished off a three-point play and Brown netted a layup to give the Panthers the 46-41 advantage midway through the final quarter. Duke battled right back with a 7-0 run to regain the 48-46 lead before Harris buried a jumper to tie things up with two minutes to play. Out of the Pitt timeout, the Blue Devils were able to bury a triple to extend the lead to 53-49 with just over a minute to go but King answered with a layup to make it 53-51. Another Duke jumper made it a four-point game, 55-51, but after a Brown free throw and a pair of missed free throws by the Blue Devils, Pitt had a chance with five seconds to go to tie the game, trailing 55-52. On the ensuing inbound, Strother got a clean look at a triple at the buzzer but her shot didn't fall and Duke held on to the 55-52 opening round win.

Off the bench, Exanor was solid for Pitt as she finished with eight points, three rebounds and two steals in 24 minutes of action while Ezeja finished off her game with four points and six rebounds (five offensive) in the loss. Brown had six points, six rebounds and two assists while Clesca finished with four points and two boards in 25 minutes.

As a team, the Panthers were able to shoot 38.2% from the floor while defensively they held the Blue Devils to just 33.9% from the floor. The two teams were tied in rebounds with 40 each but the Panthers won the battle of the paint 32-22.

The difference in the game was free throw shooting as Duke finished 13-for-22 while Pitt went just 6-for-17 from the charity stripe in the loss.

Duke was led offensively by Shayeann Day-Wilson who netted 22 points, five assists and three rebounds while Celeste Taylor netted 11 points and five boards in the win.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt falls to 2-9 all-time in the ACC Tournament. The Panthers also fall to 0-14 all-time against Duke.
Pitt grabbed 40 rebounds in the loss, they grabbed at least 35 rebounds in 28 of their 30 games this season.
Pitt has grabbed 40+ rebounds 22 times this season, most in a season under Coach White.
The Panthers held Duke to 33.9% shooting in the loss and have now held 29 of 30 opponents to 45% or less shooting from the floor this season. The Panthers have held a total of 19 opponents to less than 40% shooting.

Liatu King

King finished off her night with 13 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a block in 30 minutes of work.
She went 6-for-16 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the free throw line.
The sophomore closed out the season with five straight games scoring in double figures while also posting a total of 11 games in double digits, a new career-high.
King grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in the loss as she has led Pitt in rebounding a career-high nine times including in four straight games to close out the season.
She has grabbed at least nine rebounds in 10 games this season.
She played 30 minutes for the fourth time this season, a new career-high.