The Pitt women’s basketball team logged its second win in four games on Thursday night, edging out Wake Forest 70-64 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was the Panthers’ first road win since Feb. 1, 2018, and Pitt point guard Jasmine Whitney played a key role in the victory, racking up 19 points, a career-high 12 assists, six rebounds and three steals.
”Jasmine Whitney had a great game passing the ball for us and Danielle Garven finished around the basket at a high level,” Pitt head coach Lance White said. “We have talked so much about growth in our program, and I love seeing our players overcome adversity and play their best basketball.”
The double-double was just the second of Whitney’s career, but she is well established as Pitt’s assist leader, as she has led the team in the category in each of the last eight games and has 130 on the year. All told, Whitney is averaging 9.6 points, 4.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. While her assist output tops the team, she ranks second in scoring to Danielle Garven, who also played a pivotal role in the win over the Demon Deacons.
On Thursday, Garven contributed 21 points, five rebounds and four steals to the Panthers’ effort. Like Whitney, she has been on a hot streak, as she has led Pitt in scoring in each of the last six games and has now strung together two straight 20-plus-point games.
On the season, Garven is averaging 11.8 points and converting on 45.4 percent of her shots from the field. However, she has found a new gear in the last 10 games, as she has averaged 16.3 points and made 54.5 percent of her shots from the field during that span.
The Panthers appeared to be in dire straits for the first month of their ACC schedule, as they dropped 11 consecutive games during that stretch. However, thanks in large part to the efforts of Whitney and Garven, they have shown some signs of life late in the season, perhaps signaling better days to come in year two of White's tenure.
Pitt has one game left on its regular-season schedule, as it will host No. 3 Louisville at the Petersen Events Center this coming Sunday.