2-24-17

THE PITT NEWS February 24, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 130

A FAMILY AFFAIR

The McConnell name has long been synonymous with basketball in Pittsburgh. Now, two of the sisters are transforming Pitt’s program with help from the next generation. | by Mackenzie Rodrigues With her mom and aunt watching from the sidelines in the third quarter of a late November blowout against Slippery Rock University, Pitt sophomore guard Madison Serio drained the first 3-pointer of her college career.

Late in the fourth quarter, she buried her second long-range attempt. When she nailed her third 3-pointer the next time down the court, the Panthers’ bench celebrated as though they had just won the

national championship.

Serio’s mom and aunt weren’t just proud spectators — they were invested in her basketball career, just as they had been in their own careers and briefly, her sister Jordan’s. Two years before Madison took the court for Pitt in 2016, her older sister did the same, both carrying on a family tradition.

Their mom is Pitt head coach and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Suzie

McConnell-Serio, one of eight siblings in Pittsburgh’s unofficial First Family of Basketball. Everyone in the family played point guard, and six of the eight siblings attended college on a basketball scholarship.

McConnell-Serio’s oldest brother, Tom, is now the head women’s basketball coach at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Tim, another older brother, is a legendary boy’s basketball coach at Chartiers Valley

High School. Kathy McConnell-Miller is Pitt’s associate head coach and the top assistant to her older sister, McConnell-Serio.

“I just know working with her, I can always trust her in everything. She will always have my back,” McConnell-Serio said about her sister. “She has my best interests in mind, and I have a basketball person on that sideline making suggestions.”

See Family Affair on page 10

News

MAGGIE NELSON READS WORK ON IDENTITY, FREEDOM Amanda Reed

Assistant News Editor In a rare reading for the established poet and essayist, Maggie Nelson chose to share an unfinished piece of writing with the audience gathered in Frick Fine Arts Auditorium Thursday night.

The nameless piece revolved broadly around freedom and touched on politics, identity and race — but largely discluded all of Nelson’s familiar poetic and autobiographical touches, focusing more on incorporating quotes from other writers, philosophers and critics.

“I really don’t want to bore you,” Nelson said in between reading “The Argonauts” and the new work, which drew laughs from the audience.

The assembled students, faculty and members of the Pittsburgh community filled the house, seeming anything but bored as they listened to the award-winning poet and nonfiction author read as part of this year’s Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series.

The series brings notable writers to Pitt’s main campus every year. George Saunders, Gay Talese, Richard Ford and John Edgar Wideman have all passed through the program to give readings.

This year’s lineup includes poet Ada Limón, novelist Amy Bloom, journalist and National Book Award winner TaNehisi Coates and author Edwidge Danticat.

In an assured, breathy tone, she began the reading with a section from “The Argonauts,” a 2015 memoir outlining her and partner artist Harry Dodge’s attempts to start a family via in vitro fertilization. The passage focused on the couple’s changing bodies: hers due to imminent pregnancy and Dodge’s to top surgery — a mastectomy done as part of gender reassignment surgery — and testosterone.

Nelson often interjects her narrative with shockingly frank, often sexual, scenes.

“Different things are exposing for dif-

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Maggie Nelson spoke to around 200 people in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium Thursday night. John Hamilton VISUAL EDITOR ferent people,” she said in response to whether she feels “naked” in front of an audience that’s read about her sex life.

She doesn’t see her openness as shameful but said “the culture has let [her] know that people feel differently.”

Dawn Lundy Martin, a professor of English at Pitt and co-director of the Center of African American Poetry and Poetics, brought up the current importance of “The Argonauts,” considering the Trump Administration’s recent reversal on transgender protections under Title IX. Nelson’s partner, Dodge, is female-to-male trans, and the novella explores queer parenting and gender identity. “‘The Argonauts’ is a crucial part of our current political moment,” LundyMartin said when introducing Nelson before she took the stage.

“The Argonauts” won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and was New York Times bestseller. Nelson also authored “The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial,” “The

“‘When you write things down it can make the feeling more real.”

Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning,” “Bluets” and “Jane: A Murder” — all of which were provided by the University Store on Fifth and were on sale Thursday at Frick.

Before the reading, Nelson hosted a question and answer session in room 501 of the Cathedral of Learning at 4 p.m., which also featured a book signing. She offered more time for questions following the evening reading in Frick for those who could not attend the afternoon session.

Many of the students in the audience, including senior Daniel Lampmann, attended the Nelson reading as part of class. Lampmann, a communication major and creative writing minor, went to the event as part of his Readings in Contemporary Nonfiction class.

Although he’s attended other PCWS readings in the past, he was set on attending Nelson’s in particular to see how

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the lyric prose translated from page to real life.

“We’re required to go to a reading, and I had read the book class and wanted to hear how it was intended to be read,” he said.

Brittany Whoric, 25 and from East Liberty, graduated in 2013 but first read “Bluets” — a poetic work that centers on all the possible meanings and feelings associated with the color blue — when she was a student in Jeff Oaks’ “Autobiography and Creative Impulse” class.

Whoric was interested in Nelson’s concentration on gender and violence, prevalent in many of her novels, and decided to come back to hear Nelson read.

“When you write things down, it can make the feeling more real,” Nelson said when asked about grappling with historical violence.

Whoric echoed Lundy Martin’s earlier sentiment that Nelson is a writer like no other.

“She defies a genre and is an author who writes in her own voice,” Whoric said.

Whoric, who has attended PCWS readings in the past, said this year’s lineup is particularly impressive and reflects the changing atmosphere of writing in Pittsburgh and at the University itself.

“Roxane Gay is coming [on March 6], and I think that, on top of everyone who is coming to town, these events show that Pittsburgh is becoming more of a writer’s city,” she said.

The next PCWS event, which is on March 20, will feature Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of “Between the World and Me” and a national correspondent to the Atlantic, who will speak in the Assembly Room at 7 p.m.

2

Islamic Center to police: Investigate Beltzhoover beating Amanda Reed

Assistant News Editor A member of the Somali Bantu community in Pittsburgh was found in critical condition, beaten and potentially robbed in Beltzhoover at about 5 a.m.

Tuesday morning in what the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh thinks could have been a hate crime.

The man, a cab driver of about 30 years old, was going to pick up a passenger on Climax Street in Beltzhoover.

Investigators found him face-down and severely beaten behind a vacant house on 400 Climax St. His empty cab was found a few streets away. The man is now in critical condition at UPMC Presbyterian hospital.

Representatives from the Islamic Center held a press conference Thursday morning at their offices in North Oakland asking police to look into the pos-

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sibility of this incident as a hate crime.

As of Thursday night, police have not discussed any motive other than robbery, but are continuing to investigate, according to spokesperson Emily Shaffer.

This is not the first time the Islamic Center has asked city police to look into the possibility of a hate crime. On Thanksgiving 2015, a passenger shot an unidentified Muslim taxi driver while being dropped off in Hazelwood. Prior to the shooting, the passenger asked the driver a number of questions about ISIS and whether or not he was a “Pakistani guy,” police said.

The driver and leaders of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh called the shooting a hate crime, but police did not confirm those reports at the time.

“We don’t know specifics, but it’s not a stretch to think it’s a hate crime with acts of violence against our community around the country,” Wasiullah Mo-

hamed, the executive director of the center, said at the press conference.

Police said there is no evidence thus far that this was a race or religion-related crime and are investigating other robberies in the area. In the last six months, there have been 10 robberies in the area, the most recent on Feb. 20 on East Warrington Avenue and Curtin Avenue.

Omar Matali, a representative of the victim’s family who spoke at the press conference , said members of the Bantu community came to the United States on a promise that the brutality would be over and they would find racial and religious acceptance. Now, one of their own is in danger of dying in Pittsburgh.

“Our families have been attacked. We feel like we’re alone,” he said. “Where’s the freedom today that they talked about? Where’s the justice? Our community needs to know what happened.”

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Opinions column

from the editorial board

Top 10: Pitt traditions Everyone’s familiar with singing “Sweet Caroline,” walking over the old Forbes Field home plate in Posvar and getting a pair of horns at Peter’s Pub for your 21st birthday.

This week, we thought we’d use the Top 10 to take a look at some lesser-known — or at least less discussed — Pitt traditions.

Market Central to Sorrento’s. And it was the only thing that could drown out the sound of Rae Sremmurd at Fall Fest.

6. Putting on swimsuits and heading to Schenley Plaza any time the weather breaks 60 degrees before April We don’t do this much, because we’re 10. Getting stranded in a random more indoor people. But everyone else neighborhood because you’re too socially seems to like it. anxious to ask the Port Authority bus driv5. Eating an entire Antoon’s pizza er for help You know, we’ve all done this one mulIn our first year, we could never remember the difference between Forbes and Fifth tiple times, and you’d think we’d regret it in and the outbound/inbound thing. To this the morning. But we never do. day, we sometimes just get on at a random 4. Making it all the way to the last seside of the street and hope we find our way back to Oakland. It works about 50 percent mester of your senior year before realizing that Pitt has a shuttle tracker of the time.

We’ve been catching the 10A blind for 9. Having to spend one entire week three years. But last week, we overheard some first-years talking about when the bus wearing the Roc the Panther suit It’s a lottery system, but when your 2P was coming. Now we know how to play the number comes up you better be ready. And game — and win. we mean an entire week — sleeping, show3. Telling your RA that you’ll follow in ering, you name it. Roc has sensitive fur so you’re going to want to spring for the expen- their footsteps and keep on the straight sive shampoo. You should also start practic- and narrow — then not following through Half of us have been there. ing your backflips. Becoming Roc is great exercise, but a hassle during job interviews.

2. Telling your RA that you’ll follow in 8. Staying indoors when the fire alarm their footsteps and keep on the straight and narrow — then stealing their identity goes off in January The other half of us have been there.

In high school — back when it would get us out of class for a few minutes — we exited 1. Summoning the ancient Pitt sports in a calm and orderly fashion. But now professors don’t even stop teaching. Everyone gods to imbue our hallowed University knows the only fires on campus happen in with the spirit of ancestral victory Why else would we sing a phrase as crazy the microwaves of Towers dorm rooms. as “alleghenee, genac, genac, genac” in our 7. Breaking into an anti-Penn State “Hail to Pitt” fight song? Why else would we hail to Pitt? Next time someone asks what it chant literally whenever It doesn’t make much sense, but histori- means, you’ll know what to tell them. We’re cally, this has happened everywhere from pretty sure it’s Latin or something.

End gun control’s mental health stigma Jeremy Wang Columnist

In the first of many steps to undo various firearm regulations implemented by the Obama administration, the Senate voted last week to repeal a provision that would prevent people with mental disorders from purchasing a firearm.

The provision, found in the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, expands the criteria that would cause one to fail a background check — making it harder for people with varying degrees of mental illnesses to legally own firearms. Under the provision, the Social Security Administration is required to report anyone deemed unable to manage their personal affairs — including financial paperwork or Social Security forms — to the National Instant Criminal Background Check database.

Under the rule,

Raka Sarkar SENIOR STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

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February 24, 2017

75,000 Social Security disability recipients would be regarded as prohibited persons, fail their federally mandated criminal background check and be marked as individuals with “subnormal intelligence or mental illness, incompetency, condition or disease.”

By passing the repeal with a 57-43 vote, the Senate made the right move. At its core, the proposed regulation would cause individuals to fail a criminal background check without having committed a crime — effectively criminalizing mental illness — while adding to the already-damaging stigma that the mentally ill are dangerous.

There are a variety of ways to fail a background check, including felony convictions, domestic violence charges, restraining orders or dishonorable discharges from the military. But all of these disqualifiers, unlike the proposed rule, require some form of a court process, guaranteeing a due process before stripping someone of their Second Amendment rights.

The federally mandated background check relies on convictions on serious and often violent crimes to ensure guns don’t fall into the hands of dangerous individuals. But needing third-party help on your Social Security paperwork can simply mean a battle with dementia or an eating disorder. Such illnesses don’t adversely affect your ability to responsibly own a gun but would cause you to fail the background check under the provision.

“Someone can be incapable of managing their funds but not be dangerous, violent or unsafe,” Dr. Marc Rosen, a Yale psychiatrist who studies how veterans with mental health problems See Wang on page 7

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Wang, pg. 6 manage their money, told the Los Angeles Times. “They are very different determinations.”

Many advocacy groups for people with disabilities joined the senators voting against the bill, including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Disability Rights Network.

The National Council on Disability argued there was simply “no nexus between the inability to manage money and the ability to safely and responsibly own, possess or use a firearm.”

And if the regulation stayed in the place, not only the requirements but also the appeals process would increase the suffering of those affected. Such people would have to file a petition to prove their gun ownership would not be a danger to themselves or the public, a humiliating process that would disarm law-abiding citizens despite no proof that their ownership is harmful.

While some may point to this vote as the gun lobby looking for reasons to strike down gun regulations, the National Rifle Association has enthusiastically supported gun policy reform aimed at mental health issues in the past. Recently, the NRA supported the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act endorsed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The bill would increase funding for mental health care and codify a regulatory effort by the Obama administration to redefine the mental health section of the background check. It also took aim at the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 by attempting to remove the Social Security provision.

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Critics of the NRA — including gun control-lobbying giant Everytown — claimed the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act was a thinly veiled attempt by the gun lobby to weaken gun laws in the nation. The Act never saw a vote, dying in committee. But with the NRA frequently supporting other gun reforms aimed at mental health, it’s clear gun rights advocates are searching for a solution and not just attempting to deregulate guns.

Even the most notable gun-lobbying group, the NRA, recognizes the urgent need to address mental health concerns — but that’s not what the Social Security provision was doing. We shouldn’t be passing laws that cause tens of thousands of lawabiding Americans to fail criminal background checks in an attempt to address mental health and gun policy reform.

The rejection passed in the Senate with four Democratic Senators crossing party lines to redact the legislation put in place

by Obama, further highlighting its weaknesses. The ruling passed in the House earlier this month, meaning President Trump only has to sign off on the repeal in order to expunge the regulation — a step he should most certainly take.

Current gun control policies must be reformed to better address mental health concerns — that’s something both sides of Congress can agree on. Reform must be comprehensive, ensuring mental health care is properly funded and accessible while offering support for federal background check infrastructure. But stigmatizing all mental illness as dangerous — just for the sake of stricter gun regulation — is a harmful step in the wrong direction.

Jeremy primarily writes on gun policy and violent crime.

Write to Jeremy at jiw115@pitt.edu.

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Sports Family Affair, pg. 1 Though the local hoops legends grew up in Pittsburgh, it would be almost 30 years after their last game together before the duo reunited on the sidelines to try to turn their hometown program around.

Brookline beginnings For the McConnells, the backyard of their Brookline house in Pittsburgh’s South Hills served as the family’s own personal basketball court.

It was there the eight siblings unwound after a day at school. It was there Suzie and her younger sister Kathy competed alongside their brothers Tom and Tim. And it was there the McConnells learned nothing could permanently come between them and their passion for basketball.

“We had the basketball hoop up against the chimney — we would play until it was dark,” McConnell-Miller said. “Then finally my father put up a spotlight so we could play even through the dark...all of a sudden, the court was lit up. It was like we had a whole new court.”

With so many playmates, the kids were always outside, which McConnell-Serio says taught them “how to compete.” One day it was playing Nerf football in the street by their home, the next it was wiffle ball in the backyard, and the day after that it was basketball on their personal court.

McConnell-Serio said McConnell-Miller’s tendency to rough her up often prevented their pickup games from reaching a conclusion.

“The two of us didn’t finish a lot of one-onone battles because she was always more physical than I was,” McConnell-Serio said. “I was always finesse, and sometimes it turned into a fight.”

The family’s games of two-on-two could be just as intense.

It was always McConnell-Serio and Tim against McConnell-Miller and Tom. But the two sisters, regardless of the game, always ended up matched up against one another. They would battle it out until well after the sunset.

When McConnell-Serio was nine and wanted to play organized basketball, there was no girl’s team for her to join at Our Lady of Loreto in Brookline. So instead of waiting for her school to start a program, she joined the boys’ basketball

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team.

“It was interesting, because in fourth grade I had long hair and looked like a little girl,” McConnell-Serio said. “Then I played on the boys’ team for two years and in fifth grade — I guess to blend in a little more — I got my hair cut really short.”

She didn’t think anything of playing with the boys because she had already been playing with her brothers her whole life — that, and it was the only option for her. She wasn’t about to pass up the chance to the family’s point guard tradition.

After spending her time at McConnell-Serio’s practices and seeing her older sister play, McConnell-Miller asked the coach if she could join as well.

“It just seemed normal,” Tom, the oldest McConnell sibling, said about his sisters playing with the boys. “They wanted to play, and that was the opportunity presented to them, so they did it.

They were both very competitive and held their own and were respected by the players on their team.”

After one year, the school formed a girl’s team coached by Dan Kail, the boy’s basketball coach.

He helped the sisters develop the basic skills to be good players, laying a foundation to become great.

McConnell-Miller watched the way her older sister played, admiring her ability to handle the ball, play with a plan and control the court. But McConnell-Serio admired her sister’s game just as much, and the two became a daunting duo.

“She was someone who I could count on and I felt very comfortable with on the court,” McConnell-Serio said about her younger sister. “We had great chemistry together ... I always knew where she was on the court, and we took care of each other.”

Moving apart After bringing home the 1984 PIAA Championship along with her sister on the Seton LaSalle High School team, McConnell-Serio graduated and committed to Penn State. A year later, her sister would leave home to play for the University of Virginia.

After leading the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament in all four years as a player from 1986 to 1989, McConnell-Miller took her first coaching job as the recruiting coordinator at

Pitt in 1991. She spent the next nine years working her way up the collegiate coaching ladder before finally becoming a head coach at the University of Tulsa in 2000.

In her college years, McConnell-Serio became the program’s first ever first-team All-American and finished her career as the NCAA’s all-time leader in assists.

She went on to play point guard on two Olympic teams — earning a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

McConnell-Serio took over as head coach at Oakland Catholic High School in 1990, winning three state championships over a 13-year span. Eight years into that stretch, she embarked on a successful playing career in the WNBA, but decided to retire after three seasons. She cited both nagging injuries and a desire to spend more time with her family, but she All photographs by Wenhao Wu SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER wouldn’t be able to stay away from taking over as Pitt’s head coach prior to the 2013the game for long.

She returned to the WNBA to coach the 14 season.

During that time, McConnell-Miller was Minnesota Lynx from 2003 to 2005, taking home the WNBA Coach of the Year Award in coaching at Tulsa until 2005 when she took over 2004. She then led the Duquesne Dukes to five as head coach at the University of Colorado. straight 20-win seasons from 2007-2012 before See Family Affair on page 11

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Family Affair, pg. 10

doing and building at Pitt.”

The next generation The McConnell basketball family tree almost didn’t surpass McConnell-Serio and her siblings’ generation.

Jordan and Madison — McConnell-Serio’s daughters — were both stars at Upper St. Clair High School, but neither wanted to continue playing in college. According to McConnell-Serio, her daughters wanted to focus on just being students.

“I wasn’t going to play, but I obviously missed it,” Jordan said. “Then they were down to eight or nine players, and she said, ‘Jordan, do you just want to walk on? We just need a body.’”

So Jordan joined the team as a sophomore in 2014 and appeared in 17 games on the Panthers’ 2015 NCAA Tournament team before quitting after the season to focus on academics.

When Madison got to Pitt in 2015, she too realized how much she missed basketball.

Two months into her first year, she began working out and practicing with the women’s team. She took on a reserve role with the team for the 2015-16 season, but when the team experienced a wave of injuries and her mom needed someone to fill in, she took full advantage.

McConnell-Serio said she sometimes sees a little bit of her own game in her daughter.

“I know there are times when I’ll joke in practice when she makes a play or makes a pass or hits a shot, and I’ll joke and say, ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,’” McConnell-Serio said. “I mean, I think we’re different. She is her own player. She didn’t really grow up watching me play. She was a baby when I was playing in the WNBA.” Serio experienced playing for both her mom and dad. In her senior year at Upper St. Clair, her dad Pete was her head coach. She said it’s a completely different experience playing for her mom.

“My mom is definitely a lot more intense and competitive,” Serio said. “My dad was more of an emotional coach and got to you and gave you emotional speeches, but my mom is more fired up and intense than my dad was.”

Basketball is an intensely familial sport for the McConnells. It’s taught them how to compete and handle successes, failures and challenges. It’s something they’ve used to teach their kids more than just basketball knowledge.

“Above the game of basketball, coaching is, in my opinion, one of the greatest professions that one can ever be a part of,” McConnell-Miller said.

“I love the fact that they see Suzie and I as females working in this profession… being that type of role model for our children is extremely important, and if they choose to do this one day, they know what they’re getting themselves into.”

The Pitt news crossword 2/24/17

While there, she hired her brother and former two-on-two teammate Tom as her assistant.

“To work with her was a blessing for me,” Tom said. “She is just such a great teacher. The thing about Kathy is she just has a heart for people. She just really cares about the players she coaches and her coaching staff… she creates such a family environment and it was really fun to be around.”

In 2013, McConnell-Serio took the job as Pitt’s new head coach, and she knew just who she wanted as her top assistant on the sideline. “[McConnell-Miller] wanted to move back to Pittsburgh, bring her family back here, have her children grow up around their cousins, be around our parents and be around family,” McConnell-Serio said. “When I had the opportunity to hire her, to me it was a nobrainer.”

McConnell-Serio hired McConnell-Miller as Pitt’s associate head coach prior to her debut season at Pitt in 2013, and the same connection that existed when the two played together translated seamlessly onto the sideline. In just their second year coaching together, the sisters led the Panthers on an improbable run to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tourna-

ment.

“People always say to me, ‘I could never work with my sister,’” McConnell-Miller said.

“That’s the first thing they say, then, ‘How do you work with yours?’ And my answer typically is, ‘Well, your sister’s not Suzie.’”

Sometimes the sisters find themselves facing off against their older brother Tom when the Panthers take on IUP in exhibition games — which Pitt has won for the last three years.

In moments like these, the family environment can make the game difficult.

“We all know what it’s like to be in this profession, and we never, ever want any one of us to lose on any occasion,” McConnell-Miller said. “Then for it to be at the hand of you and your team and your success, you just never want that.”

Tom, on the other hand, sees it as a chance for his team to learn from a strong opponent and to grow as players. He knows his sisters hate it, but every year, it’s one of the games he enjoys most. It reminds him of how much respect he has for his sisters as players and coaches.

“They’ve done some great things in basketball together as players, so I think it’s only fitting to see them on the sideline together,” Tom said. “It’s tremendous. I love what they’re

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PITT FALLS AT NO. 8 FLORIDA STATE , 79-48 Mackenzie Rodrigues Staff Writer

The Pitt News SuDoku 2/24/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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Once again, Pitt sophomore forward Brenna Wise lit up the scoreboard for the Panthers, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.

The Pitt women’s basketball team (13-15 overall, 4-11 ACC) lost its final road game — and its last chance at a winning season — in a 79-48 defeat to the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles (25-4 overall, 13-2 ACC) Thursday night in Tallahassee, Florida. Wise led all scorers with 23 points, but her Panthers teammates combined to put up just 25 points in support.

Coming off of a career-high 31 points in Pitt’s last game, Wise started the game with a jumper from just inside the arc. Her teammate, junior point guard Aysia Bugg, followed Wise with a jumper of her own to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

The Seminoles quickly erased Pitt’s lead with a 10-0 run in less than two minutes.

Wise put up a long-range shot for three to put a stop to Florida State’s run.

Seminoles guard Imani Wright nailed her second triple of the quarter to distance her team from the Panthers. Wise made another shot from the paint, but Wright followed with a breakaway layup to make the game 17-9, and Florida State ended the first quarter with a 19-11 lead.

The Seminoles confused the Panthers’ defense with pinpoint passing, consistently finding open looks and extending their lead to 28-12 after a layup, jumper, 3-pointer and a foul shot.

Wise and Pitt point guard Jasmine Whitney continued putting up shots, but none found the mark. Florida State forward Maria Conde added a jumper to make it 30-12 with just over four minutes left in the half, then a bucket from forward Ivey Slaughter made it a 20-point game.

Pitt graduate transfer center Brandi Harvey-Carr drew a foul beneath the basket and made one of her foul shots, ending the Panthers’ five-minute dry spell. She and Wise each put up a jumper each for Pitt, but a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from Semi-

February 24, 2017

noles senior guard Brittany Brown closed out the first half with a 38-17 Florida State advantage.

The Seminoles outscored the Panthers 19-6 in the second quarter. Wise led Pitt with nine points and three rebounds at the half, while Wright led Florida State with 12 points.

Harvey-Carr started the third quarter with the first score, smoothly getting to the basket for a layup. Slaughter put up four points before Bugg scored with a layup just before the shot clock expired to make the game 44-21.

Seminoles center Chatrice White responded with a layup seven seconds later, then neither team scored for the next three minutes. Florida State ended the scoring drought with two free throws, but Pitt first-year guard Alayna Gribble drained a 3-pointer to make it 48-24.

Another successful trip to the line for the Seminoles resulted in two more points before Wise sank her first basket of the half, putting her in double digits with 11 points.

Gribble followed up with another three, then two foul shots from Wise made it 5431 at the end of the third.

Entering the final quarter with a virtually insurmountable 23-point deficit, the Panthers went almost four minutes without a point as Florida State stretched its lead to 30 with 6:07 remaining.

Wise gave the Panthers their first basket of the quarter, then sophomore forward Kauai Bradley scored her first points of the game with two clean free throws. But Pitt still trailed 61-35 midway through the fourth.

Bugg followed up a triple from Brown with one of her own, then Wise trailed a layup by Seminoles guard Nicole Ekhomu with one of her own. Florida State guard Leticia Romero then drained a three to make the game 69-40 with less than four minutes left, and the Seminoles closed out the dominant 79-48 win with ease.

The Panthers will return to the Petersen Events Center for their final regular season game Friday, Feb. 26, when they face off against the Syracuse Orange at 2 p.m.

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pittnews.com

February 24, 2017

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