# 2011–12 Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball team

The 2011–12 Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Panthers, coached by Agnus Berenato, were a member of the Big East Conference and played their home games at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

## Previous season

An unusual distribution of players by academic class, with five seniors and six freshman, but with no juniors or sophomores, and three new assistant coaches resulted in some growing pains for the 2010-11 Pitt women's basketball team which went 14–17, suffering their first losing season since 2004-05. In the Big East, the team finished with a 5–11 record finishing with the 12th seed in the Big East tournament, the Panthers won their first round of the tournament to South Florida, but exited the tournament with a 61–65 loss to Marquette leaving the Panthers without a post-season tournament invitation for the first time since 2005.

## Offseason

The Panthers lost their top four scorers, seniors Taneisha Harrison, Jania Sims, Chelsea Cole, and Shayla Scott, and return only one starters, Ashlee Anderson, along with five letter winners while welcoming seven newcomers. Composed of six sophomores and six freshman, with no seniors or juniors, Pitt is the youngest team in NCAA Division 1 for the 2010-11 season. Pitt looks to help replace 74.6% of its scoring, 64.1% of its rebounds, and 75.8% of its assists with its best ever recruiting class, ranked 18th by ESPN's Hoopgurlz, along with redshirt sophomore Abby Dowd, who begins play with the team after transferring from Buffalo during last season.
Staff moves included moving Meghan Bielich to Director of Basketball Operations and adding David Scarborough as the team's Video Coordinator. Assistant coach Patty Coyle was promoted to associate head coach.
The women's basketball team enters the season with modest expectations due to their inexperience and was picked to finish 12th in the Big East Conference in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

## Recruiting

Pitt's 2011 Women's Recruiting Class was ranked 18th by ESPN's Hoopgurlz and 23rd by All-Star Girls Report.
2011 Pitt Recruiting Class :
| Recruit | Position | Height | High School | Hometown | ESPN Grade |
| Loliya Briggs | guard | 5'11 | Potter's House Christian | Jacksonville, FL | 93 |
| Chyna Golden | forward | 6'2 | Neptune High School | Bradley Beach, NJ | 92 |
| Brianna Kiesel | point guard | 5'7 | Thomas R. Proctor High School | Utica, NY | 93 |
| Cora McManus | forward | 6'0 | Garfield High School | Seattle, WA | 82 |
| TiAnna Porter | forward | 6'2 | Henry County High School | Paris, TN | 40 |

## Schedule

Pitt's 2011-12 women's basketball schedule.
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Fri, Nov. 4* 7:00 pm | | Seton Hill | W 59–51 | | Petersen Events Center (1,871) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Regular Season ||||||
| Sat, Nov. 12* 2:00 pm | | Hampton | L 37–60 | 0–1 | Petersen Events Center (1,637) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Tue, Nov. 15* 7:00 pm | | St. Francis (PA) | W 78–50 | 1–1 | Petersen Events Center (1,537) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Fri, Nov. 18* 11:00 am | | Loyola (MD) School Day | W 65–59 | 2–1 | Petersen Events Center (5,031) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sun, Nov. 20* 12:00 pm | | Central Michigan | W 77–70 | 3–1 | Petersen Events Center (1,491) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Nov. 26* 2:00 pm | | Drexel | L 50–71 | 3–2 | Petersen Events Center (1,580) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Tue, Nov. 29* 7:00 pm | | Mount St. Mary's | W 58–45 | 4–2 | Petersen Events Center (1,530) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Fri, Dec. 2* 7:00 pm | | at High Point | L 75–82 | 4–3 | Millis Athletic Convocation Center (1,074) High Point, NC |
| Sun, Dec. 4* 2:00 pm | No. 7 | at Duke | L 43–92 | 4–4 | Cameron Indoor Stadium (4,428) Durham, NC |
| Wed, Dec. 7 7:00 p.m., Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | | No. 19 Georgetown | L 54–82 | 4–5 (0–1) | Petersen Events Center (1,750) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Dec. 10* 2:00 pm | | Valparaiso | W 65–56 | 5–5 (0–1) | Petersen Events Center (1,542) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Tue, Dec. 20* 1:00 pm | | vs. Indiana Caribbean Classic | W 77–72 $^{OT}$ | 6–5 (0–1) | Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort (250) Cancún, Mexico |
| Wed, Dec. 21* 3:30 pm | | vs. Michigan State Caribbean Classic | W 64–54 | 7–5 (0–1) | Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort (225) Cancún, Mexico |
| Wed, Dec. 28* 7:00 pm | | Duquesne City Game | L 57–70 | 7–6 (0–1) | Petersen Events Center (2,264) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Dec. 31* 1:00 pm | | Lafayette | W 74–69 $^{OT}$ | 8–6 (0–1) | Petersen Events Center (1,531) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Tue, Jan. 3 7:00 pm | | at Villanova | L 62–70 | 8–7 (0–2) | The Pavilion (437) Villanova, PA |
| Sat, Jan. 7 2:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | | Syracuse | L 60–83 | 8–8 (0–3) | Petersen Events Center (1,738) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Tue, Jan. 10 7:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | | No. 8 Rutgers | L 39–63 | 8–9 (0–4) | Petersen Events Center (1,009) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Jan. 14 8:00 pm | | at No. 21 DePaul | L 83–86 | 8–10 (0–5) | McGrath-Phillips Arena (3,451) Chicago, IL |
| Tue, Jan. 17 7:00 pm | | at No. 2 Notre Dame | L 40–120 | 8–11 (0–6) | Joyce Center (8,600) Notre Dame, IN |
| Sat, Jan. 21 2:00 pm, ESPN Plus, "Big East Network Game of the Week" | | West Virginia Backyard Brawl | L 43–54 | 8–12 (0–7) | Petersen Events Center (2,868) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Jan. 28 2:00 pm | | at Providence | L 50–66 | 8–13 (0–8) | Alumni Hall (403) Providence, RI |
| Tue, Jan. 31 7:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | | St. John's | L 51–66 | 8–14 (0–9) | Petersen Events Center (1,726) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Feb. 4 8:00 pm | | at Marquette | L 48–72 | 8–15 (0–10) | Al McGuire Center (2,273) Milwaukee, WI |
| Sat, Feb. 11 2:00 p.m. | | at Cincinnati | L 57–62 | 8–16 (0–11) | Fifth Third Arena (1,325) Cincinnati, OH |
| Tue, Feb. 14 7:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | No. 20 | Louisville | L 66–71 $^{OT}$ | 8–17 (0–12) | Petersen Events Center (1,555) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Feb. 18 7:00 p.m. | | at South Florida | L 50–62 | 8–18 (0–13) | Bob Martinez Sports Center (679) Tampa, FL |
| Tue, Feb. 21 7:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | No. 4 | Connecticut | L 37–86 | 8–19 (0–14) | Petersen Events Center (2,095) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Sat, Feb. 25 2:00 pm, Pitt Panthers TV / Comcast Network | | Seton Hall Pink the Petersen | L 39–63 | 8–20 (0–15) | Petersen Events Center (2,814) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Mon, Feb. 27 7:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network | | at West Virginia Backyard Brawl | L 42–60 | 8–21 (0–16) | WVU Coliseum (2,362) Morgantown, WV |
| Postseason Big East Women's Basketball Championship ||||||
| Thu, Mar. 2 2:00 p.m., BIGEAST.tv | | vs. South Florida Big East tournament | L 59–60 | 8–22 | XL Center (7,910) Hartford, CT |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Division I AP Poll unless otherwise noted. (#) during postseason tournaments is seed with region, if applicable. (#) 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 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Coaches | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |

## Awards and honors

* The team won the Caribbean Classic at the Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort in Cancún, Mexico with victories over Indiana and Michigan State.