PITTSBURGH -- The University of Delaware women’s basketball season ended with a 64-57 setback to host Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament Saturday afternoon, but the Blue Hens didn’t go down without a fight.

The Blue Hens, competing in post-season action for the fifth time in the last six years, battled all day and stayed in striking distance the entire second half before falling to the Big East contenders before 1,012 fans at the Petersen Events Center.

Melissa Czorniewy led the Blue Hens (22-8) with a game-high 21 points and Tyresa Smith (at right) posted her fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds while also scoring her 1,000th career point, but Delaware couldn’t overcome a tough shooting performance that saw the Hens convert just 20 of 60 shots from the field (33.3 percent).

Pittsburgh, which narrowly missed earning an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, improved to 20-10 and advanced to the next round to face either Mississippi or Kansas. The Panthers were led by Mallorie Winn’s team-high 17 points and eight rebounds while Danielle Taylor came off the bench to score six of her 12 points in the final three minutes, Shavonte Zellous added 11 points, and 6-4 center and All-American candidate Marcedes Walker had nine points and 10 rebounds.

“We played great today,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin, whose team finished its eighth straight winning season by posting 20 or more wins for the sixth time in the last seven campaigns. “We limited their offensive rebounds and we had plenty of opportunities to score but just weren’t able to knock down some shots when we needed to. Pittsburgh believed it should have been playing in the NCAA Tournament and I certainly agree. We just have to go back to the drawing board, work hard, and hopefully we’ll be in the NCAA Tournament ourselves next year.”

The Panthers jumped out to a 30-25 lead at the half, using a 10-2 run over a four-minute period to take a 15-6 lead with 13:16 left. Delaware cut the lead to four several times in the opening half, cutting the margin to 27-23 with 5:05 left when Smith hit a jumper for her 1,000th career point. The junior from Dover, DE (Polytech HS) became just the 21st player in UD history to reach the milestone.

Although Pittsburgh led the entire second half, Delaware stayed close the entire way. The Hens cut the lead to 43-41 on a jumper by Chrissy Fisher with 8:50 remaining, but Pitt answered with baskets from Wynn and Taylor to go back up 47-41 with 7:56 left.

The lead was never more than six points the rest of the way until the final seconds for Pitt. Delaware’s Alena Koshansky hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 49-46 with 6:58 remaining and Czorniewy hit a jumper with 5:12 left to make it 51-48. Pittsburgh answered to up the lead to six points but the Hens answered again when baskets by Czorniewy with 3:30 left and by Koshansky with 1:35 remaining cut the gap to four points.

Delaware pulled to within three points one more time at 60-57 when Czorniewy drained a three-pointer with 37 seconds left, but the Panthers sealed the win as Wynn connected on two free throws with 31 seconds left and Taylor closed the scoring with two from the foul line with eight seconds left on the clock.

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