Nov. 5, 2008

Box Score

PITTSBURGH -

The Pitt women’s team defeated the OGBR Legends 73-58 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at the Petersen Events Center to tip-off the 2008-09 season.

“In an exhibition game, you want to play everyone and I think everyone had a lot of minutes, especially our freshmen,” head coach Agnus Berenato said. “In the first half, Pepper Wilson probably had about nine minutes. But we want to learn from the bench. This is a new team and we have to see what combinations work.

“I thought the freshmen worked hard and diligent,” Berenato continued. “They aren’t used to the pace. No matter how hard we go in practice, and we go pretty hard, it’s still not the same. We beat a veteran team tonight.”

The Panthers came out strong and led 46-31 at the half. Pitt went on to lead by as many as 19 early in the second half against a team comprised of former college players and some current WNBA players.

Junior guard Jania Sims (Newark, N.J./Shabazz) led the Panthers with 16 points, while adding eight rebounds and five assists on the night. Also scoring in double figures were Xenia Stewart (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) with 11, and Shayla Scott (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) and Wilson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Westinghouse) each with 10.

In the first half, Pitt shot an impressive 7 of 12 from three-point range, but went cold in the second half ending the game by shooting 35.0 percent from behind the arc. The Panthers’ fast break and second chance points made the difference as they scored 18 on the fast break and 19 off of second chances.

Pitt wraps up its preseason play on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. against Premier Players and begins the regular season Sunday, Nov. 16 at the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in Baton Rouge, La., against No. 11 Texas A&M.