TOLEDO, Ohio -- Falling into a deep deficit is never an advisable strategy for starting a basketball game.

Pitt fell behind, 10-0, at the outset Friday night and was down, 18-3, with 13:48 remaining in the first half en route to a 70-58 loss at Toledo in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

Toledo sophomore point guard Naama Shafir finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, but junior guard Jessica Williams sparked the Rockets' early run.

Williams knocked down three 3-pointers in the first 5:16 and finished with a season-high six threes and 18 points.

"We wanted to jump on them early," Williams said. "They're a really good team, and we just knew we had to come out intense and play hard no matter what, and that's exactly what we did."

Pitt coach Agnus Berenato burned two timeouts in less that seven minutes at the outset in an unsuccessful attempt to cool off the Rockets' hot shooting.

Toledo shot 61 percent from the field in the first half and held the Panthers to 39 percent while building a 46-30 halftime lead.

"They opened on a 10-0 run, and we never recovered," Berenato said. "To me, that was it in a nutshell. In the second half, I thought we totally took them out of what they wanted to do offensively, but we couldn't score."

With 10:57 remaining and the Panthers down by 13, Shafir drove to the basket and drew contact. She promptly knocked down both free throws.

Five minutes later, Pitt was still within striking distance, but Shafir slashed to the basket, drew contact, hit the shot and the ensuing free throw. That put the Rockets ahead, 61-43, with 5:39 left and ended the Panthers' comeback hopes.

Junior guards Taneisha Cole and Brittaney Thomas had 18 and 12 points, respectively, to lead Pitt (16-15), which had advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament two years in a row before struggling this season. The Panthers' leading scorer, junior guard Jania Sims, was held to eight points.

"They're a good team and they're used to playing against some of the toughest competition in the nation," said Toledo's Melissa Goodall.

"We kind of figured they would be like, 'Oh, a MAC school that's maybe a little less talented, maybe not with the same quickness that they had.'

"So, we figured they were going to try and jump out on us but we wanted to be the ones who controlled the tempo of the game. We play a pretty quick tempo, and I don't think they were expecting that out of us."

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