Syracuse Jumps Back into a Groove over Boston College

By Jesse Cook 

CitrusTV Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter

Bouncing back to its previous self, Syracuse women’s basketball toppled Boston College 79-72 in the Dome on Sunday. The Orange had lost five of their last six contests, so the win marked a major rebound for the team.

A key rebounder also led S.U. to the victory. Syracuse forward Dariauna Lewis had not scored 10 points or more in game in two and a half weeks dating back to the Thursday, Jan. 19 road 69-57 loss at Georgia Tech when she dropped 11 points. The Omaha-native scored 15 points and led the Cuse in boards with nine.

Lewis said the performance stemmed from collective hard work in practice. She said, “I feel like this was my first time being aggressive and attacking the basket. I’ve been getting pushed really hard in practice to attack the basket. It’s not been easy to take the criticism and stuff, but I feel like it helped me today; I drove to the basket a lot, and I just embrace the contact, move through the contact to get the open chance.”

Lewis also joked that she would have finished with 10 rebounds and her ninth double-double of the season if one of her teammates had not grabbed a board over her. Lewis chuckled, “I just want to say that Georgia [Woolley] took my 10th rebound, and that’s a problem.”

Lewis came to the Cuse from Alabama A&M. She and her teammates transferred into S.U. from a myriad of different programs. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said that type of movement involves a certain amount of mutual trust between the coach and the players.

Legette-Jack placed enough faith guards Dyaisha Fair and Alaina Rice, assigning each of them to play every second of the game. Fair also scored her 2,500th points in the victory, making her the second active player to reach that milestone behind Iowa State’s Ashley Joens. Fair reached the number in 112 games, while Joens did it in 118.

Next up for Syracuse is No. 11 North Carolina who has won eight of its last nine tilts. Tipoff in the 315 is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday night.

jacook@syr.edu |  @JesseCookTV