Pitt, down 32 to SMU, ties largest comeback in NCAA women's hoops history - ESPN

Pittsburgh women's basketball coach Tory Verdi had a simple second-half message Sunday for his team, which was getting absolutely blown out at home against SMU.

«I kept saying 'fight,'» he said.

His team responded — in record fashion.

The Panthers — down by 32 points in the first half, still down by 31 at intermission — tied the largest comeback in NCAA women's basketball history, rallying to stun SMU 72-59 behind 22 points from Mikayla Johnson and 21 from Khadija Faye.

The 32-point comeback tied the record set by Texas State on Feb. 18, 2006, when it trailed UTSA 40-8 late in the first half before winning 73-71 in overtime.

«I came in at halftime and said, 'I don't have any magic words and I don't have any magic plays,'» Verdi said in an interview with The Associated Press. «We were just getting outworked; we were getting outplayed. It was a positive, spirited conversation. I challenged them. We talked about pride, having a sense of pride. And then essentially I gave them a roadmap to get us back into the game.»

It was one heck of a roadmap.

SMU led 46-14 late in the first half. From there, Pittsburgh finished the game on a 58-13 run.

The Panthers (9-9, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) missed their first 10 shots of the game and started 2-for-20 from the field. SMU's lead was 32-7 after one quarter, and the Mustangs pushed that out to the 32-point margin with 1:37 left in the half. Kylie Marshall's 3-pointer with 29 seconds left before the break gave SMU a 49-18 lead.

The Mustangs didn't score again for a long… long… long while.

The third quarter: Pittsburgh 28, SMU 0. Johnson and Marley Washenitz opened the second half with 3-pointers for the Panthers, but they only cut the lead to 25. Faye had six straight points midway