The individual Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke hires because the Panthers’ new ladies’s basketball coach can have a large rebuild on their fingers.

As of Thursday morning, seven Pitt ladies’s basketball gamers had entered the switch portal, which simply opened on Monday.

Beginning senior ahead Amber Brown was the primary to enter on Tuesday. She has since been joined by Emy Hayford, Future Strother, Taisha Exanor, Sandrine Clesca and Cynthia Ezeja. And, on Thursday, a supply conversant in the scenario instructed Pittsburgh Sports activities Now, that Dayshanette Harris can also be within the switch portal, deliver the variety of ex-Pitt gamers in it to seven.

Like Brown, Harris was one of many first gamers former head coach Lance White first recruited. She was out and in of the beginning lineup over 4 seasons, beginning in 74 of the 102 video games she performed in. For her Pitt profession, Harris performed 25.2 minutes per recreation, averaging 10.6 factors, 3.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals per recreation.

Harris was a twice a workforce captain for Pitt, usually represented the workforce at ACC media days and press conferences, and have become the twentieth Pitt participant in program historical past to report a minimum of 1,000 profession factors.

The 5-foot-7 Youngstown, Ohio native was additionally the quickest participant in program historical past to report a minimum of 700 factors, 250 rebounds and 175 assists, doing so in 60 video games. And Harris’ 4.7 assists per recreation within the 2020-21 marketing campaign have been the very best for a Panther since Pitt joined the ACC in 2013.

As a rookie within the 2019-20 season, Harris made the All-ACC Freshmen Crew and led all freshmen within the convention in scoring throughout ACC play.

Harris was additionally largely accountable for Pitt’s lone ACC Event win of the White-era, hitting the game-winning shot over Notre Dame in 2020 that despatched Muffet McGraw into retirement.

Like Brown, Harris can have one 12 months of eligibility left and can be eligible to play instantly wherever she transfers to.

Brown and Harris have been the primary and third main scorers for Pitt this previous season.

White was fired earlier this month after 5 straight shedding seasons. Pitt has interviewed 4 sitting mid-major head coaches for its opening.

Citizen Athlete, the most recent and most fascinating movie by director Brandt Wille, had its first official debut on the 2023 Mammoth Movie Pageant. The movie, which was helped financed by REIGN Whole Physique Gas, tells the story of the US Girls’s Bobsled Workforce, following them on their superb journey to the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Highlighted are the unsung struggles of those athletes as they practice for a possible spot on the Olympic workforce, and the uncooked ardour all of them share in sacrificing no matter is critical to make their goals a actuality.

Citizen Athlete primarily follows Kaillie Humphries, Aja Evans, and Elana Meyers Taylor, as they practice for the Video games, accompanied by Sylvia Hoffman, Kaysha Love, and lots of extra members of USA Bobsled/Skeleton’s (USABS) workers and Nationwide Workforce. Humphries shares her emotional journey from Workforce Canada to Workforce USA, and the private struggles and turmoil she confronted in gaining US citizenship in time for the 2022 Olympics.

“Our aim was to make a movie that transported the viewer into the world of an Olympic athlete,” stated Director Brandt Wille. “We have been all blown away by the sheer willpower and grit of all of the athletes featured within the movie, and we wished their tales to function inspiration for all of the aspiring girls and boys that dream of representing their nation on the Olympics sometime.”

Additionally highlighted are Elana’s struggles in juggling a rising household whereas competing, in addition to Aja’s battle to recuperate from a grueling harm proper earlier than Beijing. Citizen Athlete concludes on the finish of the 2022 Video games, the place a number of history-making medals are gained for Workforce USA by the movie’s main characters.

The celebrities of Citizen Athlete all gave their preliminary ideas after seeing the movie debut:

• Kaillie Humphries
  • “I’m so grateful for the Reign workforce for serving to make this occur! The movie did an unbelievable job of highlighting everybody’s journeys in a optimistic, respectful manner. You additionally get an understanding and really feel for the game of bobsled itself. I hope by means of this movie, extra consciousness will come to the game and all the unbelievable athletes who hold its legacy alive.”
• Aja Evans
  • “It was unbelievable to be a part of Citizen Athlete! For me, it was superb to have the ability to present the work and the journey that goes into making an Olympic workforce. On high of that, to have the ability to win an award for the movie at Mammoth Movie Pageant simply goes to show that it was all price it and I can’t wait to see what the longer term is for this movie!”
• Elana Meyers-Taylor
  • “It was unbelievable to see the movie on the massive display screen!  To see our tales shared on the Mammoth Movie Pageant to the world was such a humbling feeling- the manufacturing crew did such an ideal job with the movie I can’t wait til everybody has the prospect to see it.  I hope individuals stroll away and fall in love with bobsled like I did 16 years in the past.”
• Kaysha Love
  • “Citizen Athlete is a first-rate instance of how a ardour for excellence is a profitable system for achievement. In sports activities, life, or the movie business.  It was a protracted highway to the end line, however ultimately the workforce’s dedication to the problem was rewarded with an enormous win on the pageant. We’re excited to share our tales with the world.” 
•  Sylvia Hoffman
  • “The movie was merely superb. The historical past, the dedication, the battle, and the emotion is all there. Introducing my Olympic medal “Bronzy” for everybody made my coronary heart soften. The manufacturing crew are elite and is why they gained Finest Motion Sports activities Function after the premier! I can’t anticipate the world to see it!!”
• Aron McGuire
  • “USA Bobsled/Skeleton is grateful for REIGN’s assist of the movie, which has offered the chance for the ladies’s bobsled athletes to share their experiences,” stated Aron McGuire, CEO, USA Bobsled/Skeleton. “Citizen Athlete tackles a variety of highly effective matters which might be on the heart of elite sports activities and it supplies a behind-the-scenes perspective of what it takes to be the most effective on the earth.”

The award is the primary for steering and producing duo Brandt Wille and Ryan March. Be looking out for Citizen Athlete arriving in theaters quickly!

Pitt girls’s basketball is at present present process change with the firing of head coach Lance White following the end result of the 2022-23 season.

White served as head coach of this system for 5 seasons beginning with the 2018-19 season. The Panthers completed with an total document of 42-99 (.298) and an ACC document of 11-74 (.129) below White, making for the worst 5 yr stretch for any head coach within the 49 seasons in program historical past because it began in 1974-75.

With White’s dismissal, the Pitt roster is beginning to change quickly with the bulletins of transfers by totally different gamers rising because the opening of the switch portal on Monday.

Senior ahead Amber Brown positioned her identify within the switch portal on Tuesday, making herself the primary participant to switch from Pitt.

Brown began in all 110 video games in her 4 seasons with the Panthers and averaged 9.1 factors, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per recreation whereas taking pictures 45.6% from the ground. She completed with 684 profession rebounds, the tenth most in program historical past.

Three extra Pitt gamers introduced their intent to switch on Wednesday. This contains guards in seniors Emy Hayford and  Future Strother and junior Taisha Exanor.

Hayford, like Brown, joined the Panthers as a part of White’s inaugural recruiting class. She hails from Maastricht, Netherlands and served primarily as a ball handler/distributor for the Panthers.

Hayford performed in 108 video games and began 46 of them. She averaged 3.7 factors, 1.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 19.2 minutes per recreation over her Pitt profession.

Strother transferred to Pitt from Marquette after her first yr within the 2019-20 season. She performed for 3 seasons for Pitt, primarily coming off the bench as a 3-point specialist, as she made 79 3-pointers.

She performed most of her minutes in her first two seasons with the Panthers, averaging 17.6 minutes per recreation in 2020-21 and 18.4 minutes per recreation in 2021-22. Strother solely performed in 16 video games this previous season, averaging 4.2 minutes per recreation, as she noticed her taking part in minutes dramatically lower with the addition of youthful, extra proficient guards.

Exanor is from Châteauguay, a suburb of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. She spent most of her profession coming off the bench, as she began simply 4 of the 70 video games she performed in her three seasons at Pitt.

Exanor averaged 12.5 minutes, 3.3 factors, 2.6 rebounds and a 42.5 taking pictures proportion throughout her time at Pitt.

With the 4 departures, listed below are the remaining gamers at Pitt in the interim.

2023-24 Pitt Roster + eligibility 

Guards
Graduate Dayshanette Harris: one yr
Graduate Channise Lewis: one yr
Senior Sandrine Clesca: two years
Sophomore Marley Washenitz: three years
Sophomore Avery “Ace” Strickland: three years
Sophomore Aislin Malcolm: three years
First-year Jasmine Timmerson: 4 years

Ahead
Redshirt senior Cynthia Ezeja: two years
Senior Gabby Hutcherson: two years
Senior Liatu King: two years
Junior Maliyah Johnson: two years
First-year Hannah Mills-Watson: 4 years
First-year Lauren Rust: 4 years