PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Nia Marshall finished with a season-high 21 points and the Big Red women's basketball team held Pitt to 20 points below its season average, but it wasn't enough as Cornell fell to the Panthers, 56-44, this evening at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
 
Marshall led all scorers and was the only Big Red player in double figures, as she connected on 8-of-15 from the floor and chipped in six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Megan LeDuc added seven points and three assists, while Nicholle Aston tallied six points and Kerri Moran had a team-high nine rebounds.
 
The Panthers were led by Aysia Bugg (15) and Brandi Harvey-Carr (12), while Jasmine Whitney tallied a team-high nine rebounds.
 
The home team shot 41.4 percent from the floor (24-58) while holding Cornell to just 34.7 percent overall (17-49). Neither team could find much success from beyond the arc, hitting just two 3-pointers each.
 
Despite the significant height advantage by the Panthers, the visitors held the significant 42-31 advantage on the boards, but Pitt managed to remain undefeated (6-0) thanks mostly to forcing 21 Cornell miscues, giving the home team the 22-7 edge in points off turnovers.  
 
The Big Red used some tough defense through the first quarter, and Marshall registered seven points, as Cornell trailed Pitt, 12-11, at the first break. Over the first 10 minutes, the visitors never trailed by more than two points, and took its first lead of the game (10-8) on a jumper from just inside the 3-point line by Marshall at the 3:07 mark.
 
Kauai Bradley hit a 3-pointer to open the second quarter and put the home team up, 15-11, but Aston knocked down a jumper from the top of the key on Cornell's next possession to make it a two-point game once again. After that, the home team turned up the defensive pressure and began to use its height advantage on the offensive boards to close the quarter on a 17-5 run to go up, 32-18, at the half.
 
Pitt pushed its lead to 18 points (38-20) early in the third before the visitors embarked on an 11-2 run to get back within single digits, 40-31, with 4:00 to play in the stanza. During the run, Cornell got six points from Marshall.
 
The teams traded buckets before the home team closed the quarter on a 7-2 run, including a trey at the buzzer by Bugg, to go up, 49-35, at the final break.
 
The Big Red responded to get back to 10 points (53-43) on a trey by Caroline Shelquist with just 3:23 to play but that was as good as it would get as the Panthers held on to win, 56-44.
 
The Big Red remains in the Keystone State when it heads to Saint Francis (Pa.) to take on the Red Flash on Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.