PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Pitt Panthers (6-4) defeated the Lady Monarchs 63-49 and snapped the Old Dominion University women’s basketball (5-5) three-game winning-streak on Sunday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt was led by Brianna Keisel’s 20 points and nine rebounds, as Keisel surpassed the 1,000 point mark for her career on Sunday. Also in double figures for the Panthers, were Asia Logan (13 points and six rebounds) and Loliya Briggs (11 points).
Leading the way for the Lady Monarchs was Chelisa Painter who went for 10 points and six boards. Shae Kelley had her four-game double-double streak snapped on Sunday but still netted nine points and hauled down eight rebounds. Tiffany Minor drilled three shots from behind the arc, giving her nine points for the contest.
ODU shot 38.5% from the floor in the first half compared to Pitt’s 36.7%. In the second half, Old Dominion connected on 25.9% of their shots, while the Panthers hit 51.9% from the floor in the game’s final 20 minutes.
In a first half in which the Lady Monarchs led the entire 20 minutes, eight different players scored for Old Dominion. Pitt was able to cut their deficit going into the locker room to just four points (28-24), after Ashlee Anderson banked in a three-pointer just before the buzzer sounded.
The Lady Monarchs scored the first four points of the second half before the Panthers answered back with five consecutive points of their own making the score 32-29 with 15:50 showing on the clock.
Pitt then tied the game for the first time at 35 with 14:02 left in regulation. The Panthers scored the next four points, giving them their first advantage of the contest before ODU’s Kelley answered the beckoning with a layup of her own as her Lady Monarchs trailed 41-39.
At the under eight media timeout, Pitt held a 47-45 advantage. The Panthers scored the game’s next 11 points expanding the lead to 56-45 with 3:36 minutes to play before putting the Lady Monarchs away for good.
FIRST HALF NOTES
The Lady Monarchs jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before the Panthers scratched back to cut their deficit to 5-4 at the first media timeout. Old Dominion then scored five unanswered points with the help of Chelisa Painter’s second old-fashioned three-point play in the game to stretch ODU’s lead to 10-4 with 13 showing on the clock.
Again the Panthers answered the Lady Monarch’s run with a run of their own and forcing Coach Barefoot to call a timeout holding onto a 13-10 lead with 10:05 remaining in the opening half.
A Tiffany Minor three-pointer and then a Shae Kelley layup pushed Old Dominion’s lead to 19-12 with 7:30 to play in the first half. Two three-pointers by Tiffany Minor stretched the Lady Monarchs lead to 26-19, forcing Pitt to call a timeout with 3:49 to go.
Pitt would close the half scoring five of the last seven points, but it was Old Dominion who still led the Panthers, 28-24. ODU’s largest lead of the half was nine points, as they shot a blistering 50% (3-6) from downtown in the first 20 minutes.
Next Up for the Lady Monarchs
The Lady Monarchs stay hit the road to take on William and Mary on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 2 p.m. and then will travel to VCU and Duke before returning back home on Jan. 5 when they take on North Carolina Central on Military Day.
Next Karen Barefoot Coach’s Show
The next Coach’s Show will be Monday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. at YNot in the University Village.
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