Yacine Diop posts seventh double-double of season

The Pitt women’s basketball team may have fallen to Syracuse 62-53 for its 12th ACC loss of the season on Monday night, but Panthers forward Yacine Diop contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds to the effort for her seventh double-double of the season.

Diop’s last double-double came against Duke on Jan. 28, when she grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds in the Panthers’ matchup with the Blue Devils. She also posted double-doubles against Wake Forest and Georgia Tech in conference play, with her previous three coming against Cornell, UNC Wilmington and Youngstown State.

The redshirt junior is having a great year despite Pitt’s overall struggles, as she is averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, leading the team in both categories. Kalista Walters is tied with her in rebounds per game and ranks second in scoring, with 9.3 points per game. But no other Panther has managed even half of Diop’s average point total.

All that output has added up, too, as Diop is just one week removed from recording her 1,000th career point with the Panthers. Only 19 members of the Pitt women’s basketball team have ever reached that milestone, and the last was Brianna Kiesel during the 2013-14 season. She’s now playing for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA.

The Panthers have just two more regular-season games remaining before the ACC tournament begins on Feb. 28. They’ll be back in action at the Petersen Events Center against NC State on Thursday at 7 p.m. for their last home game of the 2017-18 season.