Observations from Syracuse’s 3rd-straight win: Points off turnovers, Dariauna Lewis double-double
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Syracuse won convincingly in its first two matchups, defeating Stony Brook and Colgate by 23 and 24 points, respectively. In the Orange’s third game, they continued to dominate inferior opponents, defeating Binghamton in the JMA Wireless Dome and controlling the game from start to finish.
Dyaisha Fair finished with a team-best 19 points, while Dariauna Lewis led a frontcourt that outrebounded the Bearcats 51-47. The Orange also took advantage of BU’s 23 turnovers, scoring 25 points off its mishaps.
Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) commanding 92-59 win over Binghamton (2-1, 0-0 America East):
Success off turnovers
In the first quarter, the Bearcats struggled to maintain possession as the Orange’s defense played with pace. Within the first 15 minutes, SU scored 12 points off Binghamton’s nine turnovers.
With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Bearcat Denai Bowman brought the ball up the floor, only for it to get stolen by Fair. On the way back down, Fair drew a foul. Three minutes later, Ella Wanzer lost control of the ball. As the Orange set up for their next play, Lewis scored on a layup to increase their lead to 10 points.
Binghamton’s Camryn Fauria had a pass go right through her hands with a little over a minute left in the first quarter. On the ensuing possession, Fair spun and took a jumper, but her shot went over the hoop. But Kyra Wood got the rebound, scored and drew a foul.
The Bearcats continued to slip up with the ball in their hands, committing 12 turnovers in the second half, cementing Syracuse’s win further.
Fair shines again
While Fair’s high volume of shots lends itself to a lower shooting percentage (33% in the Stony Brook game and 31% in the Colgate game), she improved her shooting against the Bearcats, finishing with 41% from the floor. Fair was consistent from everywhere, making midrange shots and short layups. Fair ended the contest with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
Fair hit an early jumper outside, establishing her willingness to take longer shots. While an early 3-point shot from Fair hit the rim, she pushed off her defender and nailed a step back 3. On a fastbreak at the start of the second, Fair got a pass following a Nyah Wilson assist to collect an easy layup.
Fair was also directing where everyone needed to go, filling the typical point guard role of floor general. Her teammates moved around the hoop and the ball eventually got down to Wilson who made her jumper to make the score 32-18.
In the third quarter, an airball from the Bearcats allowed Alaina Rice to look up and pass to Fair. Fair waited for Binghamton’s defense to crack, eventually sending a slick pass behind her head for a simple Teisha Hyman layup with 6:08 left in the quarter. Fair exited the game with nine minutes in the fourth quarter, when the Orange were already up by over 30 points.
Dariauna Lewis dominant inside
For the third straight game, the Orange relied on their strength inside, as the Bearcats’ tallest player was 6-foot-2 bench player, Ella Okubasu. This opened the door for Lewis to have a dominant performance.
On the opening tip, Lewis got the ball to Fair. The ball eventually made its way to Rice, who got the opening points of the game on a layup. Lewis contributed on multiple second chance points, including with three minutes left in the first quarter when she collected her own miss and scored on the ensuing layup. In the second quarter, Lewis collected the initial miss from Wilson and scored another layup. Toward the end of the third quarter, Lewis took a contested layup and made it, drawing a foul in the process.
She also contributed defensively, becoming a solid rim protector. Lewis finished the matchup with a team-best four blocks. Lewis also took care of the Bearcats’ early 2-3 zone to finish with her first career double-double for Syracuse, recording 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Some trouble guarding outside
In the 72-48 win over Colgate last week, Syracuse had some trouble trying to stop the Raiders’ outside shooting. Jenna Paul took all of her shots from beyond the arc and made six of them.
Against Binghamton, Syracuse started to allow some outside shooting success as the Bearcats shot 40% from the 3-point line. Binghamton’s Genevieve Coleman took a shot close to the 3-point line before coming down again and nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to make it a one-point game in the first quarter.
Traeger banked in a 3-pointer for the Bearcats’ first points of the second half. Minutes later, Binghamton passed around the arc, throwing the Orange’s defense off-guard. Then, guard Cassidy Roberts nailed a long midrange jumper after finding some space.
Mere moments after Hyman picked up her own missed shot and scored on a layup, Wanzer quickly went down the court and made a 3-pointer. Wanzer made another shot from beyond the arc just 32 seconds later. Clare Traeger also got an open look at the top of the key, but her shot hit the rim.