Panthers weather Hurricanes at home
By: Jacque Howell
The Pittsburgh Panthers walked off the Petersen Events Center court with an 81-66 victory against another ACC opponent, the Miami Hurricanes.
“They are so quick and athletic, and coming into this game we wanted to limit them in transition. We only had eight turnovers against a team that thrives on creating them. We made plays on the offensive end; we hit shots. I am proud of how our team handled Miami’s pressure,” head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio stated after the game.
This was also another game where senior guard Brianna Kiesel led the team for the most points. She contributed 23 points along with seven assists, six rebounds, and five steals. Kiesel is currently number one in the ACC for assists per game.
Besides Kiesel, three other Panther players contributed double digits. Monica Wignot had 15 points, Stasha Carey added another 14 points, and Chelsea Welch contributed 12 points, a season-high for her. Wignot also had seven rebounds, the team’s highest, and five blocks, which was tied with Carey.
Though Miami put the initial points on the board, the Panthers ended up taking over the lead shortly after and went on a 10-4 run until the first official TV timeout of the game. Pittsburgh would sustain the lead until 8:34 of the first half when a made jumper by Michelle Woods would tie the game 19-19.
Monica Wignot would make a layup to push Pittsburgh back in the lead, however Wood would respond with a made three-pointer, putting Miami in the lead. Both teams would go back and forth until Pittsburgh took back the lead. The Panthers would walk into half-time ahead 37-32.
Pittsburgh would open up the second half going on a 7-2 run, forcing a Miami timeout at 17:31, in attempt to slow the Panthers’ offensive game down. However, Pittsburgh went off the Hurricane timeout to go on another offensive run until the first official TV timeout of the second half, the score reading 51-38 with 15:07 on the clock.
Miami would go on a 7-4 run until the next TV timeout to close Pittsburgh’s lead. However, Pittsburgh for the remainder of the game would not allow Miami to come close to taking over the game. The closest gap that Pittsburgh allowed for the rest of the game was only nine points with 9:01 left in the game.
Overall, the Panthers shot 41.4% (24-for-58) while the Hurricanes only shot 32.9% (23-for-70). However, Miami had a better shooting percentage for three-pointers (40%) in comparison to Pittsburgh (37.5%). The Panthers had 17 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocks while the Hurricanes only had nine assists, four steals, and five blocks. Miami overall outrebounded Pittsburgh, Miami with 48 rebounds and Pittsburgh with 38 rebounds.
For the Hurricanes, Adrienne Motley had the most points on the team, a total of 17, and also had seven rebounds, the third highest on the team. Besides her, Erykah Davenport put 13 points on the board and eight rebounds, second highest for the team. Michelle Woods contributed another 11 points and Suriya McGuire added 10 points to the board. McGuire also lead the team for rebounds, a total of nine.
The Panthers head back on the road to play against North Carolina State Thursday, February 5th. Tip-off will begin at 7 p.m.
