Zellous' big second half helps Pitt beat DePaul

HARTFORD, Conn. – Shavonte Zellous scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half to help No. 14 Pittsburgh hold off DePaul 62-59 on Sunday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Pittsburgh 23-6 led 60-55 on Xenia Stewart's free throw with 1:40 left, but DePaul 23-9 wasn't done. Deirdre Naughton had a three-point play and Keisha Hampton hit one free throw to cut the deficit to 60-59 with 44.7 seconds left.

Panthers freshman Pepper Wilson missed a layup with 13 seconds left giving DePaul a chance to win it.

After two timeouts, Naughton drove to the basket but missed a tough layup. Pittsburgh got the rebound and Zellous hit two free throws to seal it.

The Panthers will face Louisville in the semifinals on Monday night. The Cardinals beat Rutgers 87-82 in double overtime.

Stewart scored 14 points and Sophronia Sallard added 12 for Pitt.

Natasha Williams scored 21 to lead DePaul.

Trailing 49-40, DePaul went on a 13-5 run to cut the deficit to 54-53 on Williams' layup. She had a chance to complete the three-point play and tie the game, but missed the free throw.

Naughton got her first basket of the game on a layup during the spurt. She came into the game averaging 15.7 points, but missed her first 10 shots. She finished with eight points.

Stewart hit a jumper and Zellous had a three-point play to make it 59-53. Williams' layup set up the exciting finish.

Pitt built its lead early in the second half turning a two-point edge into a 45-33 advantage with a 12-2 spurt. Zellous, who is the Big East's second leading scorer at 22.6 points, ignited the burst with her first basket of the game.

She had missed her first seven shots before hitting the layup. The senior had five points during the run.

Naughton was held scoreless until she hit two free throws with just over a minute left in the first half to give DePaul a 28-27 lead at the break.

Zellous was 0-for-6 from the field and had three points at the intermission. She wasn't the only Panthers player to struggle from the field. The team was just 9-for-34 27 percent. DePaul wasn't much better going 9-for-35 26 percent.

Third-seeded Pittsburgh got a bye through the first two rounds of the tournament. The Blue Demons advanced to the quarterfinals by beating West Virginia 75-72 in overtime.

DePaul won the regular season meeting between the teams beating Pittsburgh 69-62 on Jan. 10.







Kasahara