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Pretty good timing, right?
Earlier this week, I wrote about how ESPN put the Pitt women in their projected field for the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers routed No. 6/8 North Carolina on Thursday and that talk now seems completely justified.
The win ties the program's record for the highest-ranked AP team they've ever beaten, last knocking off No. 8 Maryland in 2008. I'm actually kicking myself since the game was on ESPN3 and I had planned to watch - completely forgot.
Pitt star Brianna Kiesel had a game-high 22 points.
The victory over the Tar Heels (14-2), while somewhat unexpected, didn't come completely out of nowhere. The team nearly beat No. 6/7 Louisville on Sunday, losing by only six. Still, for a ranked team to beat a top ten team by 25 points is virtually unheard of in women's college basketball. To do it as an unranked team? That just doesn't ever happen.
Pitt moves to 11-4 on the year and won't only get votes in the next poll, but should have a great chance to be ranked. They didn't get any votes in the last poll, but that's just too big of an upset to ignore. The team doesn't risk another loss before the polls hit since they're off a week before facing Florida State in their next game.
Really big win for McConnell-Serio - this is absolutely huge for the team and the program as a whole. The program has obviously begun turning a corner and is certainly going in the right direction.
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