32-point 3rd quarter lifts Syracuse to 85-63 win over Long Island
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For two straight games, Georgia Woolley stood on the court wearing blue sweats. She watched from the bench because of an injury as Syracuse easily defeated Colgate and Binghamton. But in the third quarter against Long Island, Woolley, now fully in uniform, had a chance to cement a long scoring run for the Orange.
Alaina Rice tipped a pass from the Sharks and Woolley got the bouncing ball and immediately moved up court, dodging defenders along the way. Woolley passed the ball down to Teisha Hyman, who shot a fadeaway and nailed the long 2-pointer, which prompted LIU head coach Rene Haynes to call a timeout.
Going into the timeout, Syracuse now had a 13-0 run in just over two minutes. The lead ballooned to 22 points after the Sharks led the entire first quarter.
It cemented the Orange’s (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) 85-63 victory over Long Island (2-2, 0-0 Northeast), a team that led for more minutes in the first half. In the first half, LIU outrebounded Syracuse, who only made three 3-pointers in the half. But Hyman scored all of her 13 points in the second half and the Syracuse frontcourt controlled the boards and the Orange decided to play a higher press. The win secured the Orange’s second 4-0 start in the last three seasons.
Syracuse struggled from the jump, trailing for the entirety of the first quarter. It was without regular starting forward Dariauna Lewis, who was out with an illness. Kyra Wood replaced Lewis in the lineup. De’Asia Thomas knocked the contested jumper down after the opening tip, while on the other end, Asia Strong’s layup down the right side of the basket couldn’t even find the rim.
“(The players) in the second quarter were like, ‘Oh crap, we’re in a dogfight now,’” Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “We have to figure out our balance.”
SU’s shooting improved by 5% in the second quarter, and the Sharks’ shooting percentage dipped 13% between quarters. Fair got multiple tips on LIU’s passes, throwing off its momentum. And on shots, Strong started to contest everything inside, forcing errant long-range shots from Long Island.
Fair knocked down a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, and she also assisted on the final points of the half. Fair stood at the top of the arc in the waning seconds of the first half. She drove inside, something that LIU was preparing before by crowding near the hoop.
As the Sharks’ defense came down on Fair inside, Fair turned and kicked the ball outside to Strong. Strong pulled up from beyond the arc and beat the buzzer to give SU a 36-27 lead into halftime. While Strong got a celebratory hug from Legette-Jack as she entered the locker room, she remembered what her head coach told the team.
“In the locker room, Coach (Legette-Jack) told us, ‘Rebound!’” Strong said.
Against LIU’s 2-3 zone, Syracuse struggled to convert near the hoop.
But at the start of the third quarter, Saniaa Wilson started to use her size and converted inside. During the Orange’s scoring run toward the end of the quarter, Wilson cut through double teams to collect defensive rebounds to build a transition offense. With the Orange’s 29 total rebounds in the second half, they ended with four more than the Sharks for the whole game.
With under six minutes remaining in the quarter, Fair stood at the top of the key before whipping a pass to Cheyenne McEvans. McEvans used the exact same passing motion to send the ball down to an open Wilson, who scored on an open layup to make the score 44-34.
Hyman also started to convert after missing all four of her shot attempts in the first 30 minutes of play. She made two mid-range jumpers in the first three minutes of the third quarter. But she really started to get involved in the quarter’s latter stages because of a change on defense.
“We decided to push up and press the ball,” Fair said. “And make them work and speed them up a little bit.”
Legette-Jack said she and the coaching staff made the switch to get a change in energy. In the last five minutes of the third quarter, at least two players were always fiercely defending the Sharks’ inbound passes.
With over four minutes left in the third quarter, Hyman drove down the left side and then flicked a no-look pass to Strong, who scored and drew the foul. But after Strong missed the free throws, Rice immediately got a steal on the Sharks’ transition pass. Rice passed to Hyman, who then threw down low to Wilson to move the Orange’s point total to 50.
Syracuse made another stop, but on the next possession down, Fair was shaken up a bit on the contact with Claire Henson. After taking a few deep breaths, Fair went on the charity stripe and made one of two shots. But Strong got the rebound on Fair’s miss, setting up another score for Wilson. On the next possession, Long Island’s Ashley Austin lost control of the ball and Woolley subsequently got the ball again and scored on a jumper.
Fair threw a high pass to Hyman, who bobbled the ball, but eventually got full control of it. She curled back toward the foul line and nailed a floater to make the score 68-41 at the end of the third quarter. In the last five minutes of the period, Syracuse went on a 24-5 run.
By the fourth quarter, like every other game this season, Syracuse had the game secured in its grasp. While Fair and Hyman stayed in longer than they had in prior games, they both made 3-pointers to start the final quarter. Fair finished the game with a team-best 22 points, but it wouldn’t have started without the third quarter, where the Orange just needed to relax.
“We just had to relax and dig deep,” McEvans said. “And we had to lock in on defense and come together as a team.”
