# 2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers women'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.

## 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

* 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.’”
* May 22: Shavonte Zellous' jersey was announced that it would be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's "Ring of Honor".
* 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.
* 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."
* 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.
* 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 |