The Miami women’s basketball team remains perfect on the road in Big East play with a 79-76 victory over Pittsburgh Wednesday night in the Petersen Events Center.
The Hurricanes improve to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while the Panthers fall to 9-7 overall and 1-4 in the Big East.
Tamara James recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Yalonda McCormick scored a career-high 19 points and was a perfect eight-of-eight from the free throw line.
Meghan Saake scored 16 points along with six steals while Shaquana Wilkins added 10 points and grabbed nine boards.
To begin the contest, four quick points by Pitt’s Mandy Wittenmyer gave the Panthers an early 4-2 advantage. However, costly turnovers and personal fouls led to a 19-4 spurt by Miami, giving the Hurricanes a 21-8 lead with 8:01 remaining in the first half. Miami took a 39-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The two teams traded baskets to start the second half until the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to tie the game 56-all with 8:28 remaining in the game. Pittsburgh grabbed its first lead of the second half and pushed their advantage to three points following a 3-pointer by Brooke Stewart.
Miami responded and with 13 seconds remaining it owned a 75-70 lead. McCormick and James combined hitting six-of-six from the free throw line to seal the win for Miami.
Laine Selwyn posted her third double-double of the season for Pitt as she finished with 13 points and 11 assists. She also added eight rebounds and four steals while making 7-of-7 foul shots. Wittenmyer added a team-high 15 points and Allen and Stewart tallied 14 points apiece.
The Panthers shot just 30 percent (11 of 36) from the field in the first 20 minutes, including a dismal eight percent (1 of 12) from 3-point range. For the game, Pittsburgh managed to shoot 39 percent (26 of 67) from the field while Miami drained 44 percent (29 of 66) of its field goals.
-Compiled by the Sports Information Department