Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team concluded its nine-game road stand with a 56-39 setback at the University of Pittsburgh on Thursday evening inside Pitt's Petersen Events Center.
Le Moyne held a 13-10 advantage after 10 minutes of action, and faced a three-point deficit at halftime, but the Panthers outscored the Dolphins 26-12 in the second half.
Fifth-year guard
Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) tallied her Northeast Conference-leading fifth double-double of the season for Le Moyne with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists, two blocks and a steal.
Junior forward
Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford), who made her first start as a Dolphin on Thursday, and sophomore guard
Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded seven points and two steals each for Le Moyne. Goode added three assists while Williams pulled down six rebounds, including four offensive boards.
Graduate guard
Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) registered a career-high five steals with two assists, three rebounds and five points during the setback, while sophomore guard
Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) contributed a career-high three assists to go along with five points, two rebounds and a steal.
For the Panthers, freshman guard Aaryn Battle, senior forward Liatu King and sophomore guard Aislin Malcolm each scored in double figures during the team's fifth home victory of the campaign.
Battle shot 6-9 from the field and 4-6 from the line to record a game-high 17 points along with six rebounds, three assists and a steal. King finished the contest with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Malcolm added 12 points, three assists and two steals.
Pitt sophomore guard Marley Washenitz tallied four points, a team-high 10 rebounds, a game-high seven assists, a career-high five blocks and a team-high three steals in 36 minutes played.
Team Stats:
Le Moyne forced a season-high 21 turnovers with a season-best 13 steals, scoring 14 of their points off of turnovers. The Dolphins also recorded a season-high 19 offensive rebounds and tallied 10 second chance points.
The Panthers scored 32 points in the paint, compared to 22 for Le Moyne.
After tallying 11 made field goals in the first 20 minutes, the Dolphins went cold in the second half, shooting 17.7% from the field in the third quarter and 6.7% in the final 10 minutes.
The Panthers shot 7-14 from the field in the fourth quarter as they extended their lead to double digits.
Quotes from Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes:
"Give a lot of credit to Pitt, they picked up their defensive intensity in the second half. But, I mean, great defensive effort on our part, that's what we're trying to hold teams to is 56 and under, and we did that today we just couldn't make a shot."
On the play of Brianna Williams: "I think what you don't see on the stat sheet is how well she defended. She was guarding their best scorer who was averaging 20, she only got 12 today so I think her defensive presence outside of her offense was a huge help to us."
On Sydney Lusher's five steals: "Syd just keeps adding to her game. I mean, five steals, we talked about moving on the pass and they're kind of a rhythmic team and so she was able to time them and get some stuff. We guarded the baseline out of bounds very well and we went over those this morning so I think she was able to carry that over and understand what was going on on the court."
On the conclusion of the team's nine-game road stretch: "I talked to the team about it before the game, it's just been an unbelievable non-conference season. We're the first DI [women's basketball] team in school history, we had our first DI win. We've had a lot of firsts and this was kind of a culmination off all that, being on the road. But, they played their hearts out, I can't ever say that we're not playing hard. I think it'll come to fruition eventually and we're excited to get back home because maybe the hoops are a little bit bigger or something. We'll have a little bit better comfort level for sure."
How it happened:
Back-to-back jumpers by Baker and Williams gave the Dolphins an 8-4 lead in the first quarter, then Le Moyne established a 12-4 advantage following two free throws from Baker and a runner in the paint over three Pitt defenders by Linnin.
The Panthers then went on a 6-0 run with consecutive three-point plays from graduate forward Jala Jordan and King.
Pitt took the lead with a three pointer from Battle and a jumper from King to begin the second quarter, then the Dolphins went back ahead with 8:00 left in the period when Linnin delivered a pass to the right wing for Goode who splashed a triple.
With 3:28 left in the first half, Baker received the ball above the foul line, then crossed over to her left, drove to the block and converted a contested right-handed scoop layup to make it 21-20 in favor of the Panthers.
Pittsburgh scored two consecutive baskets to take a 25-20 lead, but then Lusher came up with a steal on defense, pushed the ball up the court, drove into the paint and then dropped off a pass to Baker who banked home the layup.
Pitt quickly brought the ball back up the floor and got it to Jordan who scored in the paint to extend the lead back to five points with 1:53 left in the half.
During the next Le Moyne possession, Linnin got an open look from long distance and knocked down the three pointer to once again make it a one-possession game.
Malcolm responded with a three pointer of her own at the other end for Pitt, but Le Moyne scored the final basket of the first half when Lusher drove from the right wing to the block and banked in a shot over the help defender to make it 30-27 Pittsburgh at halftime.
The Dolphins missed their first five shots of the third quarter, then with 7:23 on the clock Lusher stole a pass in the paint, pushed the ball up the right side of the floor, threw a cross-court pass ahead to Goode who delivered a bounce pass to her right for a sprinting Baker who finished the right-handed layup to trim the deficit to 32-29.
With just under seven minutes left in the third period, Baker threw an entry pass toward the left block for Williams who made a contested catch and finish in front of the rim to make it a one-point game, then neither team scored a field goal until the 3:25 mark in the third when Battle grabbed a defensive rebound then went coast-to-coast and finished a left-handed layup to put the Panthers up 35-31.
Battle then converted four consecutive free throws and a jumper in the paint between the 2:53 and 1:52 marks of the third to complete a personal 8-0 run and give the Panthers a 41-31 advantage.
Goode ended the run for Le Moyne by making a jump shot from the left side of the floor with 1:30 left in the penultimate quarter.
Le Moyne missed their final shot of the third quarter and the score remained 41-33 going into the final period.
Pitt began the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run to open up a 52-33 lead.
Le Moyne scored their first points of the fourth quarter with 3:59 left on the clock when junior guard
Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) drove to the right block, drew a shooting foul and made both free throws.
Thursday's matchup against Pitt marked the Le Moyne women's basketball program's first regular season game against an opponent from the ACC.
Le Moyne (2-10, 0-0 NEC) will play its final non-conference game against Princeton at home on Ted Grant Court on December 31 at 12:00 p.m.
The Dolphins will make their Northeast Conference debut on January 6 at home against the FDU Knights, beginning a 16-game conference slate.
