Pitt men out, but women make first NCAA round of 16 appearance

3/27/2008 5:20 PM

By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer

Agnus Berenato proved she was a salesperson deluxe in making $8,500 selling Bibles to Kentucky families to finance her sophomore year at Mount St. Mary's. These days, she's finding it just as easy to sell players on Pittsburgh women's basketball.

All those recruiting pitches, all that not-always-gentle persuasion to land players for a team that won only six games in the 2003-04 season is paying off for Berenato in another way - Pitt's first trip to the NCAA round of 16, one year after the Panthers made the tournament for the first time.

There's something else on Berenato's resume this season, too: For the first time, the Pitt women are going deeper into the NCAA tournament than the men, even though the men won the Big East tournament for only the second time in 25 years.

``We've talked about that - somewhat,'' leading scorer Shavonte Zellous said Thursday in a telephone interview, trying to temper her enthusiasm. ``But we're all family here.''

That's because many Pitt men's players attend the women's games - it's not always like that at other Top 25 programs - so the women shared the disappointment when the Panthers lost to Michigan State in the men's South Regional second round last weekend.

Several Pitt men, including point guard Levance Fields, have sent good-luck messages to the women before the sixth-seeded Panthers (27-10) play second-seeded Stanford (32-3) on Saturday night in Spokane, a matchup resulting from another historical footnote for the women.

Their 67-59 victory over third-seeded Baylor on Monday marked the first time since 1981 that Pitt has beaten a higher-seeded team in the NCAA tournament. The Pitt men have played in the last seven NCAA tournaments and in 14 since that 1980-81 season, but not one defeated a higher-seeded team.

``It feels good to be the first Pitt team in the sweet 16, to have two NCAA appearances - we all had faith in Coach B and what she's done to build Pitt's program,'' said Zellous, who averages 18.1 points. ``We're trying to keep that going. We're not ready to go home.''

The Panthers haven't been home for 10 days, beating Wyoming and Baylor - the national champion only three years ago - in Albuquerque, N.M., before traveling directly to Spokane.

Marcedes Walker, a physical 6-foot-3 center from Philadelphia who averages 13.9 points and 9.5 rebounds, was the first prominent player to be sold on Berenato's program. But many more good players have followed, including juniors Zellous and Xenia Stewart (8.9 points) and sophomore Jania Sims (9.5 points).

Also, point guard Mallorie Winn (8.1 points) gained an extra season of eligibility after badly injuring a knee last season.

``Slowly, we are making some impact and now everybody else beyond the Big East will think, `Pitt, wow, they are really paying attention to their women's basketball program and they are a force to be reckoned with in the future,''' Berenato said.

Or now, although beating Stanford and its scoring star, Candice Wiggins (19.8 points), will be difficult given the Cardinal's 20-game winning streak.

Playing in the competitive Big East against Connecticut, Rutgers and West Virginia has clearly made the Panthers better in March. They have beaten five teams ranked No. 15 or higher at the time this season, including Baylor, during a third consecutive 20-win season.

``I think we're coming together as a team,'' Zellous said. ``(Against Baylor), we concentrated on playing our game - not their game, our game. (Against Stanford), we need to control Wiggins' touches, contain their other people and stick to our defensive game plan.''

Here's proof that the Pitt men are influencing the women: Baylor's guards seemed disrupted by Pitt's push-and-shove, get-after-it defense, the very trademark of men's coach Jamie Dixon's teams. No doubt Berenato would like to do the same thing against Stanford, an opponent unfamiliar with the Panthers and their style.

``Coach B, she's excited about this - but she's always excited,'' Zellous said. ``She's just a little more happy. But she wants to keep going. She wants to keep making history.''