Up and Down Week Syracuse Women’s Basketball
By Kiran Costa | @Costa_Kiran
Syracuse Women’s basketball opened the season with a five-game homestand, which ended a disappointing 2-3. This week started well for Syracuse, with a solid 77-58 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday. But then, on Wednesday, SU was yet again unable to close out a winnable game against UAlbnay, falling 73-70 on a late three-pointer.
Fairleigh Dickinson
Syracuse entered Sunday’s bout with FDU on a two-game losing streak but came out the gates with a vengeance opening the game with a 10-0 run. Unlike in the losses before this, SU kept pushing after a goof first quarter taking a double-digit lead into the half. SU never slowed down, it led wire-to-wire and cruised to a 19-point win. This was the cleanest game SU played all season, they only turned the ball over five times, while forcing the Knights to cough it up 17 times. One area stood out, the paint, SU led 40-6 in paint points led by 12 from Kyra Wood and 10 from Izabel Varejão. The bench also made a big contribution while playing limited minutes, Kiera Scott shot a perfect 4-4 accumulating eight points in just 11 minutes while Angelica Velez had a career-high six points.
UAlbany
This game followed an eerily similar script to the prior games this season. Syracuse came out hot, building a 10-point lead after the end of the first quarter, thanks to a hot shooting quarter from Georgio Woolley who was already up into double digits at the first break. But just as we’ve seen all season the second quarter spelled disaster for the Cuse. The Orange have an astonishing minus-28 point differential in the second quarter through five games, including being outscored 19-10 in this game. SU still held a one-point lead at the halftime break, but the Great Danes kept their foot on the gas, they hit four three-pointers in the third quarter and took the lead into the fourth. A back-and-forth final frame, saw the Orange have the ball in a tied game with the shot clock turned off. But Georgia Woolley was called for an offensive foul and Lilly Phillips buried a corner triple with three seconds to clinch it for UAlbany.
Next Up
The Orange now gets to escape the Syracuse winter and head down to sunny Destin Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic. Syracuse takes on Missouri on Monday at 5 PM. The Tigers finished last season 11-19 and a disastrous 2-14 in SEC play, but have been better this year starting 4-2. The SU defense will have its hands full as the Tigers have already scored over 100 points in two games this season. Syracuse sets a defensive goal of holding their opponents under 69 points, which will be crucial against a potent Missouri offense. The Orange will play two games in two days for the only tie this season, playing either Creighton or Wichita State on Tuesday, depending on Monday’s results. Follow @costa_kiran on X for complete coverage of Syracuse women’s basketball all season long.
