Syracuse blows 21-point lead against Penn State
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Syracuse needed to halt Penn State’s momentum midway through the fourth quarter. The Bryce Jordan Center had been tame for most of the night, but now started to increase in volume.
While Alaina Rice knocked down a triple on the ensuing possession, the Orange’s 2-3 zone defense looked to tighten up coming out of the media timeout.
As Penn State crowded around the right side of the court, SU’s zone followed, leaving freshman Shay Ciezki alone at the left wing. After PSU missed on a layup, the ball went around the arc before Ciezki nailed a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer to take a 64-63 lead.
The Orange never led again.
Penn State (5-0, 0-0 Big Ten) led for just five minutes of playing time. At one point in the third quarter, Syracuse (4-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) held a 21-point lead. But a fourth quarter collapse resulted in the first loss of Felisha Legette-Jack’s coaching tenure at SU. Ciezki and Makenna Marisa each scored 13 points in the final quarter.
“You’re going to feel that pain,” Legette-Jack said of the loss. “You had an opportunity to tell your story in the victory…you’re going to feel this painful moment.”
The Orange made six 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of play, building an early double-digit lead. This success served in stark contrast to the rest of the season as SU made only 20% of its 3-point shots through its first four games against average defensive teams.
In the second quarter, Fair almost lost possession of the ball, but regained her composure, firing a pass to Rice, who nailed a 3-pointer at the left wing to increase the lead to 16 points. By halftime, the Orange were up 18.
But signs of the impending demise were noticeable early on, and became more pronounced as the third quarter wore on. Throughout the game, SU recorded 19 turnovers, with the majority of them coming in the first half.
Just over two minutes later, PSU became the beneficiaries of a rare turnover from Fair. Dariauna Lewis flew in to steal the ball away from Penn State’s Makenna Marisa. Lewis rushed up the floor before sending a pass to Fair. The Buffalo transfer ran quickly in the face of a Penn State double team, leaping and then passing the ball to no teammate, sending the ball out of bounds and giving the Lady Lions possession.
Midway through the third quarter, Hyman drove down the lane and turned to her left before trying a bounce pass to Saniaa Wilson. But Saniaa was too far ahead of Hyman, and the ball bounced out of bounds.
Hyman again turned the ball over when she tried to swing a pass out from under the basket, only for Ciezki to be lurking in the corner . With six minutes left in the third, a Hyman turnover immediately led to a layup by backup forward Ali Brigham.
Five minutes later, the Lady Lions built up some offensive momentum to head into the fourth quarter. With Dariauna Lewis guarding her, Chayana Pinto made a stepback jumper. And after a missed wide-open 3-pointer from Asia Strong, Pinto nailed a quick 3-pointer on transition. By the time the buzzer sounded, the Lady Lions had cut the deficit to 10 points.
Similar to how Syracuse started the game, Penn State opened the fourth quarter with a quick 3-pointer as Ciezki made one on the fast break. When Hyman tried to drive on the ensuing possession, she traveled and gave the ball right back to the Lady Lions.
Ciezki scored PSU’s next four points while SU could only muster a single jumper from Strong. While Rice made her third 3-pointer of the night to silence the crowd just a bit, Ciezki drained a corner 3 to make it a one-point game with seven minutes remaining.
Following Cizeki’s second of three 3-pointers in the quarter, Fair started from the top of the key before throwing an underhand pass to Strong in the right corner. With enough space between her and Johnasia Cash, Strong pulled up from 3. But her shot rolled around the rim, going into the hands of Alli Campbell.
Campbell sent a pass down to Pinto, who rushed to the hoop, pump faked to shake off Strong and scored a layup that gave Penn State its first lead of the night. Following Pinto’s layup, Syracuse scored four more times, while PSU scored 13 more times.
In the last two minutes, Cash and Marisa got to go to the charity stripe to shoot free throws, something that seemed almost inconceivable not even 20 game minutes ago.
“We’re going to get better,” Legette-Jack said. “There’s a lot of season left.”
