Pittsburgh, Pa. -- Pittsburgh scored 17 straight points midway through the second half to win 78-58 and turn away an encouraging effort from the Youngstown State women's basketball team on Friday in the 2010-11 season opener.

Bojana Dimitov turned in her first career double-double with 14 points, all of which came in the first half, and 11 rebounds. Brandi Brown scored 20 points had seven rebounds.

Brittany Thomas led four panthers in double figures with 18 points while Chelsea Cole and Shayla Scott had 13 rebounds apiece.

Although the final margin was 22, Youngstown State gave Pitt all it could handle for 24 minutes. Two free throws by YSU's Monica Touvelle with 16:18 remaining tied the score at 46-46. Pitt, though, scored the next 17 points and held YSU without a field goal for more than 11 minutes.

Pitt went up by as many as 25 with 2:34 remaining on a Thomas lay-up.

The Panthers shot 47 percent overall and 52.9 percent in the second as they outscored the Guins 42-24 in the period. YSU shot 26.8 percent overall and just 20 percent in the second half.

The Penguins attempted a school-record 48 3-pointers, but only 10 found the bottom of the net. The previous record was 37 at Oral Roberts on Feb. 18, 1999.

Pitt took a 15-9 lead at the 14:23 mark of the first half, but Youngstown State fought back and took its first lead in more than eight minutes on a Dimitrov bucket that made the score 19-18.

Pitt went on a 10-2 run to go up 28-21 at the 6:36 mark, but Dimitrov scored the next six points to get YSU within one with 4:18 remaining. Those two triples were part of a spell where the senior scored 10 straight points and 12 out of 14 for YSU. Her two free throws with 2:23 left tied the score at 31-31.

Pitt scored five consecutive points in the final minute to go up 36-31, but Maryum Jenkins buried a three as time expired to make the score 36-34 at halftime.

Jania Sims, Pitt's leading scorer from last season, was limited to two points in seven minutes after picking up three early fouls. She responded to score 14 points in 17 minutes in the second half.

Brown picked up her fourth foul at 17:43 in the second half, but she was still able to play 29 minutes in the game.

Jenkins started the second half with another triple to put YSU up 37-36, and a Brown jumper at 18:49 gave the Penguins their final lead at 39-38.

Six players for Pittsburgh stood at least six feet tall, and Tieara Jones was YSU's lone six-footer. That helped the Panthers to a 40-14 edge in the paint and a 54-37 edge in rebounding.

The halftime score between these two teams the past two seasons were heavily lopsided in Pitt's favor. The Panthers led 44-22 through 20 minutes at Petersen Events Center in 2008-09, and they held a 47-19 advantage last year in Youngstown.

Youngstown State plays at Bowling Green on Wednesday at 7 p.m.