PITTSBURGH – The Cornell women's basketball team gave ACC foe Pitt all it could handle, but couldn't hold off a fourth quarter surge by the home team in front of a raucous School Day crowd of 10,587 at the Petersen Events Center. The teams entered the final stanza tied at 25-25, but the Panthers jumped out to a five-point advantage midway through the quarter and rode the momentum to a 51-39 victory, scoring more points in the fourth (26) than it had in the first three quarters combined.
 
Cornell (0-2) was led by Christine Ehland's 10 points and nine rebounds, while Samantha Widmann and Kate Sramac finished with eight apiece. Freshman Elodie Furey made her first career start and finished with nine rebounds to go along with solid defense against the Panther frontcourt.
 
Pitt (2-0) was led by Yacine Diop's 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. Four other Panthers finished with at least eight points but none reached double-figures.
 
Neither team shot well, with Pitt finishing at .353 percent overall (18-51) but just .235 percent from 3-point range. Big Red connected on just .240 percent overall (12-50) and a mere .200 percent from beyond the arc (2-10). The Panthers also held the slim edge in rebounds (39-35) and turned the ball over three fewer times (24-21).
 
Playing in front of a crowd that surpassed the Big Red's 2008 NCAA Tournament game vs. UConn by 4,000 fans, Cornell turned the ball over on its first three possessions and the Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Fittingly enough, it was a pair of Pittsburgh natives that got the Big Red its first points, with Ehland and Sramac combining for the next eight points to give Cornell an 8-7 lead at the 8:46 mark.
 
The Big Red extended its lead to 14-10 at the first break on a pair of made free throws from Ehalnd, but the home team knotted the game midway through the second quarter at 14-14. Janee Dennis returned the lead to Cornell with the team's first trey of the game at the 4:33 mark. That was the Big Red's lone field goal of the quarter yet the visitors took the 17-14 advantage into halftime.
 
Cornell took its largest lead of the game when Danielle Jorgenson hit a pair of free throws at the 6:23 mark of the third quarter, but Pitt began heating up and back-to-back treys from Alayna Gribble gave Pitt its first leads since early in the first quarter, 22-20.
 
Another 3-pointer from Kyla Nelson mad it a 25-21 Pitt advantage, but a steal and a finish by Widmann, followed by a pair of made free throws from Jorgenson sent the teams into the final break tied at 25-25.
 
The Big Red will play six of its next seven games in the friendly confines of Newman Arena, beginning with in-state rival Colgate on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.