It has been 40 days since a Boston College women’s basketball win.
The Eagles led by as much as 14 in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh. Yet, the Panthers executed a 20–0 fourth-quarter run to retake the lead and win the game.
Theresa Hagans Jr. led Pitt’s run with 14 points. Hagans Jr. scored 17 of her total 24 points in the fourth quarter. Pitt (8–9, 1–3 Atlantic Coast) limited BC (4–13, 0–3 Atlantic Coast) to eight fourth-quarter points and secured a 64–61 win.
“We played a very, very bad fourth quarter,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “From a standpoint of all the things that were going well for us in the third quarter, I don’t think Pitt changed anything that they did at all. We just stopped making good decisions with the ball.”
Hagans shot eight free throws in the first quarter—BC shot none. Pitt committed no fouls in the final quarter.
“I mean, we put [Hagans] to the free throw line too much,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “And I think that just caught us and she really took over, and she had a really great fourth quarter. I mean, she played her butt off, and she played with that inspiration that she was going to lead her team to win.”
The Panthers had slow first and third quarters—seven points and six points—and explosive half-ending quarters—28 points and 23 points.
Pitt’s Carla Viegas made four threes in the second quarter. The Eagles left Jada Queeley wide open for a buzzer-beater three before the half expired, erasing the Panthers’ nine-point first-quarter deficit and entering the second half leading 35–26.
“When Viegas made a couple of threes early that was on us, coaching staff-wise,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “We were trying to put in a defense where we were hoping to give her a hand, but we weren’t focused on her for a couple possessions to see what she was going to do to us. As soon as she hit them, we were supposed to be focused. And we just lost her a couple times.”
Lily Carmody did not score until the third quarter, and Athena Tomlinson finished the game with zero points on two field goal attempts.
Pitt’s Lauren Rust, who finished with 15 rebounds, grabbed 6 rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think that we rebounded well,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “[Number] 13, she was a player that, like, we know how hard she crashes the glass, and that was a player that we had talked endlessly about, keeping her off the glass and making sure it doesn’t…and I thought that there were possessions where we did that, but we didn’t do it enough.”
BC extended its active losing streak to nine games, and failed to have a player eclipse the 15-point mark in ACC play this season.
“We needed this win, you know, to get back on track,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “And I’m just, I’m very frustrated right now.”