You can always count on Agnus Berenato to steal the show. She doesn’t disappoint, showing up for the semifinal game with Louisville in a polka dot suit coat and a double string of pearls. One wondered whether she doesn’t secretly crave to be a team mascot.
No, that’s not somebody’s grandmother prowling the sideline. That’s the Pittsburgh women’s basketball coach.
Sorry but she looks out of place on the bench, always good for a laugh, even during the most frenetic of games. But somehow she manages to recruit good players and inspire her basketball teams.
The Lady Cards ignore the distraction, taking her team seriously, keeping their game faces on, prevailing 69-63 over a team that refuses to roll over. Angel McCoughtry was there every time the Lady Cards needed her, contributing 31 points and 14 rebounds.
Trailing 63-62 with 1:40 , McCoughtry’s three-point play gave Louisville a two-point edge with 1:12 left. After a turnover by Xenia Stewart, McCoughtry hit a pull-up jumper from the wing with 23.5 seconds remaining to make it 67-63. Deseree Byrd hit two free throws for the final margin.
UConn straight ahead in the championship game of the Big East Women’s Tournament. The Huskies are no laughing matter.
Sometimes you win ugly. Still counts the same as a 30 point thrashing. You can say that Pitt folded in the final 1:30 of tonights game, but I prefer to see it as Angel McCoughtry simply refusing to lose.
You must try to understand the mindset of the warrior. Eventually, they do take a beating and it could very well happen tomorrow night. But if there is a ghost of a chance and the lights are still on, the warrior fights until the fight is over. Angel is a warrior. A talent unlike we’ll ever see again in Freedom Hall.
It was serious. Cards down by one and all the momentum in the worls on the Pitt side. Calmly, like Clint Eastwood strolling down a dusty street with six shooters by his side, McCoughtey walked back onto the hardwood in the XL Center and took the game over. Dez Byrd will have the final two points of the game credit to her but I have no doubt that Angel told her to make them or she’d grab the rebound and just clinch this thing herself.
Opponents do not like Angel during a contest. Some claim she’s a tempermental, moody and shows way too much expression on the court. It’s all losers talk.
Louisville may not beat UConn tomorrow night. Most likely everyone in the Big East with the exception of Cardinal fans have crowned King Geno and his Court.
Let’s go ahead and play the forty minutes anyway thought and let “35? do her thing. Even if to show Maya Moore what a true Player of the Year looks like.
Charlie,
Two years ago, I scribbled down this memory. And now… it’s time to dance again. Dancin’ with Pitino
http://hellinthehall.com/2009/03/09/dancin-with-pitino/