2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball team

This article is about 2009–10 Pitt women's basketball. For 2009–10 Pitt men's basketball, see 2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team.

The 2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Panthers were coached by Agnus Berenato. The Panthers were a member of the Big East Conference and played their home games at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball
WNIT, First Round
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East
Record	16–15 (5–11 Big East)
Head coach	Agnus Berenato
Assistant coaches	Jeff Williams Caroline McCombs Yolett McPhee-McCuin
Home arena	Petersen Events Center
Seasons ← 2008–09 2010–11 →

2009–10 Big East Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Connecticut	16	–	0		1.000			39	–	0		1.000
West Virginia	13	–	3		.813			29	–	6		.829
Georgetown	13	–	3		.813			26	–	7		.788
St. John's	12	–	4		.750			25	–	7		.781
Notre Dame	12	–	4		.750			29	–	6		.829
Rutgers	9	–	7		.563			19	–	15		.559
DePaul	9	–	7		.563			21	–	12		.636
Providence	7	–	9		.438			19	–	15		.559
Syracuse	7	–	9		.438			25	–	11		.694
Marquette	6	–	10		.375			17	–	16		.515
South Florida	6	–	10		.375			15	–	16		.484
Pittsburgh	5	–	11		.313			16	–	15		.516
Louisville	5	–	11		.313			14	–	18		.438
Cincinnati	4	–	12		.250			12	–	18		.400
Villanova	3	–	13		.188			14	–	16		.467
Seton Hall	1	–	15		.063			9	–	21		.300
† 2010 Big East tournament winner

Previous season

The 2008-09 Pitt women's basketball went 25–8, a program record number of wins, en route to Pitt's second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and a final #15 national ranking in both the AP and Coaches' polls. Point guard junior Jania Sims was injured during the first game of the season and redshirted. Pitt graduated all-time leading scorer Shavonte Zellous who was a first round draft pick by the WNBA's Detroit Shock. Pitt also graduated second team all-Big East guard Xenia Stewart.

Offseason

Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato poses for photos at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar as part of a thank you tour of overseas U.S military bases

• May 19: Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Seton Hill University. Berenato was recognized for her efforts in building the Panthers program into a national success. Her honorary diploma was presented to her by Seton Hill President JoAnne W. Boyle, Ph.D., it stated “Family, colleagues, students and friends describe you as ‘genuine,’ ‘a master motivator,’ ‘a live ball of action,’ ‘a real go-getter,’ ‘loyal,’ and finally ‘amazing.’”^[1]
• May 22: Shavonte Zellous' jersey was announced that it would be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's "Ring of Honor".^[2]
• July 16, 2009: Pitt sophomore center Shawnice "Pepper" Wilson was named a finalist for the USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team. Wilson participated in trials at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the group was cut from 27 participants to the 14 finalists, but withdrew due to injury.^[3]
• August: Head coach Agnus Berenato is selected for and participates in a tour of overseas U.S military bases with the goal is to boost "the morale and quality of life for deployed military personnel by providing entertainment from the home front."^[4]
• The Pitt women's basketball team is selected to play on national or regional television seven times for the 2009–10 season, including three games on the ESPN family of networks.^[5]
• Two freshman recruits joined the team: 5'9" guard Ashlee Anderson from Chicago, IL and 6'5" center Leeza Burdgess from Miami, FL.

Roster

Number	Name	Height	Position	Class	Hometown
23	Ashlee Anderson	5-9	Guard	Freshman	Chicago, IL
42	Leeza Burdgess	6-5	Center	Freshman	Miami, FL
22	Chelsea Cole	6-3	Forward	Junior	Lumberton, NJ
10	Taneisha Harrison	6-0	Guard	Junior	Bowie, MD
32	Selena Nwude	6-5	Center	Junior (RS)	Riverdale, MD
24	Sarah Ogoke	5-9	Guard	Sophomore	Sugar Land, TX
50	Kate Popovec	6-3	Center	Sophomore	Canfield, OH
2	Sophronia Sallard	5-10	Guard/Forward	Senior (RS)	Syracuse, NY
25	Shayla Scott	6-1	Guard	Junior	Monroeville, PA
14	Jania Sims	5-7	Guard	Junior (RS)	Newark, NJ
12	Brittaney Thomas	5-8	Guard	Senior (RS)	Montgomery, AL
40	Shawnice "Pepper" Wilson	6-6	Center	Sophomore	Pittsburgh, PA

Schedule

Pitt's 2009-10 schedule.

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
Tue, Nov. 10* 7:00 pm		Seton Hill	W 91–60		Petersen Events Center (2,805) Pittsburgh, PA
Non-conference regular season
Tue, Nov. 17* 11:00 a.m.		North Florida	W 61–35	1–0	Petersen Events Center (4,276) Pittsburgh, PA
Fri, Nov. 20* 7:00 p.m.		Florida	W 81–58	2–0	Petersen Events Center (2,848) Pittsburgh, PA
Tue, Nov. 24* 7:00 p.m.	No. 24	St. Francis (PA)	W 75–70	3–0	Petersen Events Center (2,269) Pittsburgh, PA
Fri, Nov. 27* 1:00 p.m.	No. 24	Appalachian State Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Tournament	W 63–56	4–0	Petersen Events Center (2,533) Pittsburgh, PA
Sat, Nov. 28* 6:00 p.m.	No. 24	Marshall Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Tournament Championship Game	W 80–58	5–0	Petersen Events Center (2,357) Pittsburgh, PA
Wed, Dec. 2* 7:05 p.m.	No. 19	at Youngstown State	W 89–37	6–0	Beeghly Center (1,350) Youngstown, OH
Sat, Dec. 5* 12:00 p.m.	No. 19	Western Michigan	W 89–65	7–0	Petersen Events Center (611) Pittsburgh, PA
Tue, Dec. 8* 7:00 p.m.	No. 15	Valparaiso	W 77–52	8–0	Petersen Events Center (2,400) Pittsburgh, PA
Sat, Dec. 12* 1:00 p.m., Big Ten Network	No. 15	at Penn State Pitt–Penn State rivalry	L 73–77	8–1	Bryce Jordan Center (4,159) University Park, PA
Sun, Dec. 20* 3:00 p.m.	No. 21	at Austin Peay	W 76–75 OT	9–1	Dunn Center (410) Clarksville, TN
Tue, Dec. 22* 6:30 p.m., Fox College Sports	No. 20	at Western Kentucky	W 76–60	10–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (1,442) Bowling Green, KY
Tue, Dec. 29* 2:00 p.m.	No. 20	Duquesne City Game	L 63–72	10–2	Petersen Events Center (3,018) Pittsburgh, PA
Thu, Dec. 31* 1:00 p.m.	No. 20	Mount St. Mary's	W 57–47	11–2	Petersen Events Center (2,300) Pittsburgh, PA
Sat, Jan. 2 8:00 p.m.	No. 20	at Marquette	L 55–66	11–3 (0–1)	Al McGuire Center (2,584) Milwaukee, WI
Tue, Jan. 5 7:00 p.m., CBS College Sports		at No. 22 West Virginia Backyard Brawl	L 59–63	11–4 (0–2)	WVU Coliseum (1,183) Morgantown, WV
Sun, Jan. 10 1:00 p.m., ESPNU		Rutgers	L 46–52	11–5 (0–3)	Petersen Events Center (2,925) Pittsburgh, PA
Sun, Jan. 17 4:00 p.m., ESPNU		No. 18 West Virginia Backyard Brawl	L 54–69	11–6 (0–4)	Petersen Events Center (3,599) Pittsburgh, PA
Wed, Jan. 20 7:00 p.m., Bright House Sports Network		at South Florida	L 51–68	11–7 (0–5)	USF Sun Dome (864) Tampa, FL
Sat, Jan. 23 2:00 p.m., Big East TV		at Providence	W 72–58	12–7 (1–5)	Alumni Hall (703) Providence, RI
Sat, Jan. 30 2:00 p.m., CPTV		No. 1 Connecticut	L 56–98	12–8 (1–6)	Petersen Events Center (7,121) Pittsburgh, PA
Tue, Feb. 2 7:00 p.m.		Syracuse	L 80–87 OT	12–9 (1–7)	Petersen Events Center (2,547) Pittsburgh, PA
Sat, Feb. 6 2:00 p.m.		at No. 3 Notre Dame	L 76–86	12–10 (1–8)	Joyce Center (9,149) Notre Dame, IN
Wed, Feb. 10 7:00 p.m.		No. 16 Georgetown	L 63–66	12–11 (1–9)	Petersen Events Center (511) Pittsburgh, PA
Sun, Feb. 14 5:30 p.m., ESPN2		Louisville Pink the Petersen	W 72–69	13–11 (2–9)	Petersen Events Center (4,168) Pittsburgh, PA
Wed, Feb. 17 7:00 p.m.		at Villanova	W 74–69	14–11 (3–9)	The Pavilion (577) Villanova, PA
Sat, Feb. 20 2:00 p.m.		Seton Hall	W 78–57	15–11 (4–9)	Petersen Events Center (2,745) Pittsburgh, PA
Tue, Feb. 23 9:00 p.m., CBS College Sports		at DePaul	L 57–68	15–12 (4–10)	McGrath Arena (2,024) Chicago, IL
Sat, Feb. 27 2:00 p.m.		at Cincinnati	W 72–60	16–12 (5–10)	Fifth Third Arena (820) Cincinnati, OH
Mon, Mar. 1 7:00 p.m.		No. 16 St. John's	L 65–77	16–13 (5–11)	Petersen Events Center (2,377) Pittsburgh, PA
Postseason† Big East Women's Basketball Championship
Fri, Mar. 5 12:00 p.m., Big East TV	No. 12	vs. No. 13 Louisville First Round	L 71–79	16–14	XL Center (N/A) Hartford, CT
Women's National Invitation Tournament
Fri, Mar. 19 7:00 p.m.		at Toledo First Round	L 58–70	16–15	Savage Arena (1,868) Toledo, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll.   †Postseason ranks represent seeds in the applicable tournament. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

Rankings

Ranking Movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. rv=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	WK 17	Wk 18	Final
AP	rv	rv	24	19	15	21	20	20	rv	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Coaches	22	25	20	20	15	19	19	18	22	rv	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Minutes	Field Goals	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points

See also

• Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball
• Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
• 2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team
• Pittsburgh Panthers
• University of Pittsburgh
• Big East Conference

References

1. "Berenato Earns Honorary Degree from Seton Hill University - UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE". Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
2. "Chancellor Gallagher sends memo on sexual assault". February 16, 2015.
3. "Wilson Withdraws from USA Basketball U19 Team Due to Injury - PITTSBURGH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE". Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
4. Zeise, Paul (August 8, 2009). "Pitt's Berenato to visit U.S. troops overseas". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, PA. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
5. "Pitt Women's Basketball to Play Seven Television Games in 2009-10 - PittsburghPanthers.com - University of Pittsburgh Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2009.