Montana - they lumber

Pitt women land fourth seed in NCAAs
By Karen Price, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, March 17, 2009

... No. 15 overall Pitt (23-7) will face Big Sky Conference champion and No. 13 seed Montana (28-4) in the Oklahoma City Region at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bank of America Arena in Seattle.
If Pitt wins, its next opponent will be the winner of No. 5 Xavier versus No. 12 Gonzaga on Monday.
"I think we got a great draw and I'm really excited that we're a No. 4 seed," coach Agnus Berenato said last night at Petersen Events Center, where the team and fans gathered in the lobby to watch the selection show. "That's what we were hoping for.
"I just keep going back to a few years ago when we were sitting here and the media was here and we were so disappointed because we didn't even get in the Big Dance. And now we're three years in a row and we're a No. 4 seed. How awesome is that?"

Pitt's bracket includes No. 1 seed Oklahoma — for whom 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Carlee Roethlisberger plays — as well as No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 North Carolina and tough No. 5 Xavier and No. 7 Rutgers squads.

Berenato is familiar with her team's first-round opponent. First-year assistant Yolett McPhee-McCuin coached against them while an assistant at the University of Portland last year, and the Panthers faced another Big Sky opponent, Weber State, in the Pitt Thanksgiving Tournament this season.

"They're big, stocky women," Berenato said of Montana. "They don't press, they don't have a good transition game, they play a zone. They're a very methodical team; they almost lumber. They go hard to the paint, then they like an inside-outside game. They have a great 3-point shot."
Her players were slightly less familiar. "No, I don't actually know anything (about Montana)," junior forward Shayla Scott said. "When we were watching we were like, 'Yay! No. 4! Montana? OK.'"
Shavonte Zellous said she hasn't heard a thing about Montana's women's team. "But if they're in the tournament they have to be good, so we can't take any team lightly," she said.

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62GRIZ said:

That's OK! We'll just lay the lumber to them!

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March 10, 2009 HARTFORD, Conn. -

Pitt senior guard Shavonte Zellous has been named to the Big East All-Tournament team, announced following the title game Tuesday night at the XL Center. Zellous is the only player named to the five-person team, who did not play on a team represented in the championship game.

Zellous (Orlando, Fla./Jones) is a three-time First Team All-Big East member, making her the only player in Pitt history to achieve that feat. Against DePaul in the quarterfinals, Zellous scored 18 points to lead the team and added a Pitt-best 24 points in the heartbreaking semifinal loss to Louisville.

An All-America candidate, Zellous finished second on the team in scoring in the Big East and was seventh in the country. With 674 points to date this year, she is enjoying possibly the best season in Pitt history as she is just seven points from surpassing Jennifer Bruce’s single-season record of 681 points, set during the 1984-85 season.

Zellous has led the Panthers to their best-ever Big East season in school history at 12-4. To date, Pitt sits at 23-7 overall and are awaiting its third consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Pitt’s NCAA Tournament fate will be determined Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. on ESPN as a part of Selection Monday. The Panthers will host a selection show celebration in the lobby of the Petersen Events Center Monday night with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. All fans are invited.

Also named to the all-tournament team were Louisville’s Candyce Bingham and Angel McCoughtry and Connecticut’s Tina Charles and Kalana Greene. Huskies’ sophomore forward Maya Moore was named the MVP of the tournament.

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citygriz said:

62GRIZ said:

That's OK! We'll just lay the lumber to them!

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no we won't. "lumbering" is a brutally realistic evaluation of our team, as has been reflected in the scores of our last two tourney appearances against vandy. it's a long long distance from being a "big sky power" to having a chance to win a game against a #4 seed on the national stage. i'll be watching, hoping and rooting, of course, but if we keep this within ten, it'll be a miracle.

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LakGriz said:

Berenato is familiar with her team's first-round opponent. First-year assistant Yolett McPhee-McCuin coached against them while an assistant at the University of Portland last year ... "They're big, stocky women," Berenato said of Montana. "They don't press, they don't have a good transition game, they play a zone. They're a very methodical team; they almost lumber. They go hard to the paint, then they like an inside-outside game. They have a great 3-point shot."

This assessment comes from an assistant who was an assistant at U of Portland last year. Big, stocky women? She's probably talking about Guardipee and the girl from Hardin who didn't come back this season. Those ARE two big, stocky women, but only one of them is playing now, and not many minutes.

The LG usually don't press, they don't fast break unless it's a really clear opportunity, and Robin seems to prefer the half-court offense. Without the flying-around transition game, they probably reduce the number of turnovers, and that makes each possession count a little more.

What may surprise Pitt is the fairly aggressive defense the LG put up on change of possession, but if Pitt can get out and run, that could be a problem.

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Yolett McPhee-McCuin enters her first season as an assistant coach with the Pitt women's basketball program. McPhee-McCuin comes to Pitt from the University of Portland, where she served as an assistant for one season. "Yolett is a vibrant, vivacious, up-and-coming coach," Berenato said. "She is a fantastic recruiter on the West Coast and will really open up doors for us there and in her native country of the Bahamas. She did a great job at Portland and we are excited about the national exposure she offers from her time in the northeast to the west coast." At Pitt, McPhee-McCuin will serve a role in recruiting, as the staff's academic liaison and will be a vital part of player development and on-floor coaching.

A former point guard at Rhode Island, McPhee-McCuin went on to coach one year at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, and two years at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. While at Pine Bluff, McPhee-McCuin earned her Master's degree in physical education, graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Throughout her career, McPhee-McCuin has made a great impact at every stop. At Frank Phillips, she helped a down program to a 16-13 record. As a coach for two seasons at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, she helped to develop league all-freshman team member Arica Green and aided the squad to its first postseason appearance in the SWAC Tournament.

At the University of Portland, McPhee-McCuin spearheaded the recruiting efforts and, in addition to working primarily with the guards, she also was in charge of the marketing efforts. Portland clinched a 14-15 record, which was the best in 10 years, and directed guard Karlie Burris, who went from averaging less than one point per game, to all-conference honorable mention honors. "I feel very blessed for this opportunity," McPhee-McCuin said. "Not just to work at a great institution such as the University of Pittsburgh, but to work with Agnus Berenato, Jeff Williams and Caroline McCombs, who are some of the top coaches in the nation. Agnus is not only a great coach, but a great person and I am looking forward to contributing to our goal of winning a national championship."

As a player at Rhode Island, McPhee-McCuin played in 56 games in two seasons and helped lead the Rams to the 2004 Atlantic-10 Conference championship game. McPhee-McCuin began her collegiate career at Miami-Dade Community College, where she averaged 9.0 points and 6.9 assists per game. She was an all-state and all-region selection and ranked third in the nation in assists per game in 2002.

McPhee-McCuin has broken many barriers for a female from the Bahamas. She was the first Bahamian female to graduate high school and sign a National Letter of Intent to a Division I school for basketball and became the first to coach at a Division I school as well. In the Bahamas, McPhee-McCuin developed a foundation known as "Back2Basics", which is geared to the development of young boys and girls through education and sports. As a point guard, she led the 18U Junior National Team to a silver medal in the FIBA National Games. McPhee-McCuin is a proud member of the "So You Want to be a Coach" program through the WBCA, and the Black Coaches and Administrators Association. She resides in Pittsburgh with her husband, Kelly McCuin.

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Proud Griz Man said:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 16400.html

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GrizLA said:

It will be interesting to see how the Portland State women do against Portland in the NIT.

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March 17, 2009

Pitt senior guard Shavonte Zellous was named to the State Farm Coaches’ Region I All-America team, as voted on by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The list of 52 nation-wide candidates will be cut to 40 finalists, who will be in the running for the 10-member State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team.

Zellous (Orlando, Fla./Jones) finished second in the Big East in scoring and is currently seventh in the country with a 22.5 points per game average. Entering the NCAA Tournament, she is just eight points from breaking the 24-year-old single-season points record at Pitt, which has stood at 681 during that time. This year, Zellous has already been named to the Wooden Award midseason list and has been the Big East Player of the Week three times. In the preseason, she was also named to the State Farm Wade Trophy candidate list as well as a unanimous preseason All-Big East selection. Zellous also graced the Lindy’s, Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News’ preseason All-America teams.

Following the regular season, Zellous was awarded with her third First Team All-Big East honor, making her the first in Pitt history to earn first team honors three times. For her efforts in the conference tournament, she was named to the Big East All-Tournament team.

Zellous will help lead the No. 4-seeded Panthers through the NCAA Tournament as they meet up with Montana in a first round matchup on March 21 in Seattle, Wash. Game time is set for 8 p.m. EST with live coverage on ESPN2. For further information on Pitt in the NCAA Tournament, please visit http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com

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.... Ena and the 13th-seeded Lady Griz (28-4) have enough to worry about in the fourth-seeded Panthers (23-7). They have a dangerous point guard in 5-foot-10 guard Shavonte Zellous, who averages 22.5 points per game and was named to the Lindy's preseason All-America second team list.

“Zellous is obviously their go-to person, but then there's a whole bunch of them who can hurt you,” said Montana coach Robin Selvig, whose team is shooting for its first NCAA tourney win since 1995. “They've got really good size. They start a 6-6 kid (freshman Pepper Wilson). The rest of them are like 5-11, 6-foot, 6-1. They don't have anybody small. They're good defensively, they can score it and they're pretty balanced.” Wilson is not the type of player to take over a game with an average of 6.8 points per game. But she did score 16 in a Big East tournament semifinal loss to No. 7 Louisville last week, and could make things mighty tough in the paint for Montana, whose tallest starter is 6-1 Britney Lohman. “The most important thing is to not get intimidated by it,” Ena said. “There's pluses and minuses to playing against a tall person. It's about positioning, footwork, heart and quickness. The 15th-ranked Panthers are just as talented but distinctly different than the Vanderbilt team Montana lost to in the tournament last season, 75-47.

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NCAA Women's Tournament: Hostile crowd would help energize Panthers
No. 4 Pitt vs. No. 13 Montana Friday, March 20, 2009 Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pitt women's basketball team could be facing a hostile crowd when it plays Big Sky champion Montana tomorrow in an NCAA tournament first round game in Seattle.

Washington Bank of America Arena, on the campus of the University of Washington, is about seven hours from Missoula,where the University of Montana is located. According to early reports, plenty of Montana fans are willing to make that trip. Organizers in Seattle are bracing for as many as 4,000 Lady Griz followers. That means the Panthers (23-7), who are the fourth seed in the Oklahoma City Region, will face a hostile crowd. Pitt coach Agnus Berenato doesn't necessarily believe that's a bad thing. She's hoping those 4,000 bring along 4,000 of their friends because the Panthers seem to play better in front of packed houses.

"Obviously it is really tough for our fans to get from here and go 2,500 miles across the country, and we understand that," Berenato said. "But believe me, fans bring energy, and our kids, they feed off of energy. I think it is great for women's basketball when we play in front of big crowds -- so it doesn't bother me that they are bringing that many.
... Pitt guard Shavonte Zellous agreed with her coach, saying that it really isn't much fun to play in an empty arena. She said the Panthers play a fun style of basketball and that they always seem to be able to convert fans when they play neutral-site games. "Once the game starts, you really kind of block out who the fans are cheering for one way or the other," Zellous said. "We'd much rather be in front of a crowd than playing in an empty gym because we're an energy team, and fans create that atmosphere that brings the energy level up. "If you think about it, the times we've been good this year is when our energy is up and the times we've lost some games, we haven't played with great energy, so we want a big crowd there."

Montana (28-4) is the No. 13 seed but many believe they should have been at least a No. 12 seed. Three of the Lady Griz's four losses were non-conference games against NCAA tournament teams Gonzaga (69-63), Maryland (71-58) and South Dakota State (64-59), and their only conference loss was at Big Sky runner-up Portland State (62-52).
They have won 11 consecutive games and they are led by an excellent point guard in Mandy Morales (17.1 ppg), who originally enrolled at Arizona State but transferred to Montana before her freshman season.

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