Women’s Basketball Closes Out Homestand With Lehigh Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, December 10

Pittsburgh, PA

2 PM

Pitt

Lehigh

Tickets

Women’s Basketball Closes Out Homestand With Lehigh Sunday Afternoon

12/8/2023 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

GAME 10

Pitt vs. Lehigh

Dec. 10, 2023 / 2:00 PM / Pittsburgh, PA (Petersen Events Center)

GAME NOTES

SCHEDULE

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women’s basketball team (4-5, 0-0 ACC) looks for their third straight win Sunday afternoon as they welcome the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (8-1, 0-0 Patriot) to the Petersen Events Center for a non-conference showdown. Sunday’s game will tip at 2:00 pm and air live on ACC Network Extra.

HOW FOLLOW

Sunday's game will air live on ACC Network Extra by clicking HERE.
You can also listen to the game on pittsburghpanthers.com as the voice of Pitt women's basketball, Josh Rowntree, will have the call from the Pete starting at 1:45 pm. To listen, click HERE.
Live stats for the game can be found by clicking HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

KING TABBED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR FIRST TIME IN HER CAREER

For the first time in her career, senior forward was recognized by the ACC as Player of the Week as she helped Pitt secure a pair of wins.
For the week, King averaged an ACC-best 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists while shooting 65.5% from the floor and 75% from the charity stripe.
King becomes just the third ACC Player of the Week in program history as Brianna Kiesel earned the award twice during her career (2014).

BATTLE MAKING BIG IMPACT IN YEAR ONE

Freshman guard Aaryn Battle has emerged as a big-time player for the Panthers through the first nine games of the season.
The New Jersey native has earned six straight starts in the Pitt backcourt. On the year, she is averaging 6.4 points, 2.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 44.7% from the floor and 54.5% from behind the arc. She has connected on six of her last eight three-pointers on the year.
Last time out, Battle netted eight points, three rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes of action as Pitt downed Binghamton. She also posted the second highest plus/minus rating on the team with a +15 rating.
She has been great in her last four games as she is averaging 9.3 points, 4.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds with just five turnovers. She is also shooting 48.1% from the floor and 71.4% (5-for-7) from behind the arc.
In the win over Saint Francis, Battle had the best game of her young career as she netted 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds in 33 minutes of work in the win over Saint Francis. She finished the game going 4-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-4 from deep.

Freshman guard Aaryn Battle has earned six straight starts while averaging 9.3 points and 4.0 assists across her past four games

More Notes

STORYLINES

Senior forward Liatu King has been the best player on the floor all year long for Pitt and she earned ACC Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career last week. King capped her big week averaging 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists while shooting 65.5% from the floor. She is Pitt’s second ACC Player of the Week recipient in program history.
Aislin Malcolm has been on another level of late as across her last five games she is averaging 16.2 points, 3.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 60.0% (12-for-20) from deep and 57.1% from the floor overall. She has a career-high six double digit scoring games so far this season.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt wraps up a three-game homestand Sunday afternoon as they welcome Lehigh for a 2:00 pm tip on ACC Network Extra.
The Pitt offense has begun to hit its stride of late as they have scored at least 72 points in four straight games for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. The Panthers are also shooting 49.2% from the floor across those four games while owning a 3-1 record.
King has been on a tear to open the season as she currently leads the ACC and ranks 13th in the NCAA with 192 total points. Her 192 points through the first nine games of the season are the most by a Pitt player since Lorri Johnson (206) during the 1990-91 campaign for the Panthers.

SERIES HISTORY – LEHIGH

This meeting marks the first between the two programs of all-time.
The Panthers currently own a 20-3 record against members of the Patriot League.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS

Lehigh enters Sunday’s game with a 8-1 overall record after earning a dominant win over La Salle Thursday night.
Ella Stemmer is leading the Lehigh offense averaging 17.6 points and 3.3 rebounds while connecting on a team-high 29 three-pointers. Lily Fandre is averaging 12.1 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 50.6% from the floor and 44.1% from behind the arc.
Meghan O’Brien is enjoying a nice season as she is averaging 9.3 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds to go along with a team-high 14 blocks and 22 assists.
As a team, the Mountain Hawks are averaging 77.2 points per game while allowing 62.9 points per contest. They are shooting 42.6% from the floor and 32.8% from deep while grabbing 42.0 rebounds per game so far this season.

LAST TIME OUT – BINGHAMTON

After falling behind by as many as 10 in the first half, the Panthers locked in across the final 20 minutes and earned their second straight win as they collected the 73-62 victory over Binghamton.
The Pitt defense led the squad to victory as they held the Bearcats without a point for over 10 minutes between the end of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter. In all, Pitt held the Bearcats to just 20% shooting in the final quarter to secure the win.
Liatu King once again led the Panthers offensive efforts as she netted 27 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists while going 10-for-15 from the floor. It marked her sixth double-double of the season.
Aislin Malcolm continued her strong play with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists while Aaryn Battle and Jala Jordan each netted eight points in the win. Rapuluchi Ayodele came off the bench for the first time this year and responded with 10 rebounds (four offensive).
As a team, Pitt shot 49.1% from the floor while also owning the dominant 42-27 advantage in rebounds. Pitt also outscored Binghamton 42-14 in paint scoring and 7-0 in second chance points.

SCORING IN BUNCHES

The Pitt offense is beginning to play at a high level of late.
So far this season, Pitt has five games with at least 72 points scored including in four straight. It marks just the second time (2014-15) since joining the ACC in 2013-14 that Pitt recorded 72+ points in five of the first nine games of the season.
Pitt also has scored 72+ points in four straight games for the first time since 2014-15 when they did it five straight times.
When the Panthers score at least 70 points this season, they own a 4-1 record.

SHOOTING FOR THE STARS

The Panthers offensive attack has become more consistent of late and that has translated to shooting a higher percentage from the floor.
On the season, Pitt is shooting 42.5% as a team from the floor. Since joining the ACC the highest shooting percentage for a season by Pitt is 40.4% in 2016-17.
When the Panthers shoot a higher percentage from the floor than their opponents, they own a 3-1 record on the season.
Pitt has recorded four games shooting at least 47% from the floor which marks the most games in a season for Pitt since 2018-19 (five total games). The five games in 2018-19 are also the most in a season for Pitt since joining the ACC in 2013-14.
Pitt has been shooting the ball great of late as across the past four games the Panthers are shooting 49.1% from the floor and 41.8% from behind the arc.

NEXT UP

Pitt returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 19 as they travel down to Tampa, FL to participate in the Sun Coast Challenge. The Panthers will take on Ball State in the first game of the tournament at 12:00 pm on Dec. 19.
The Panthers close out the tournament with a game against Georgia on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 12:00 pm.

The meeting with Ball State will be the sixth meeting between the two while the game against Georgia will be the second in the all-time series.