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Dyaisha Fair brought the ball up the court with Virginia Tech’s Georgia Amoore ahead of her. She crossed the ball over from left to right, catching Amoore off-balance. Rising off of her left foot, Fair let go a high-arcing floater, over her defender’s arm, that nestled in the back of the net. 

Just a few possessions later, Fair streaked down the court, catching an unorganized Virginia Tech defense in transition. Spotting Georgia Woolley in the corner, she fired a pass to the wide-open Woolley, already in her shooting stance. Woolley caught the ball and drained a shot from deep. 

Throughout most of the first half, Fair and Woolley scored consistently to help Syracuse head into the break with a slim 36-35 lead. Learning from its mistakes in the opening 20 minutes, the Hokies started to shift their defensive concentration toward the two, forcing the Orange to look elsewhere for offensive production. In the end, no response presented itself as Syracuse (14-9, 5-7 ACC) crumbled in the final quarter during its eventual 78-64 loss to No. 13 Virginia Tech (18-4, 9-4 ACC). 

Despite the loss, Fair and Woolley combined for 38 points, with Fair dropping her 23rd-straight game in double-figure points. She finished with 20. Woolley shot an efficient 7-15 on the night, yet only shot 40% from behind the arc despite starting the first half off making three of her four total threes. 

The rest of the Syracuse team produced a total of just 26. 

Fair, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, wasted no time in getting going. Drawing VT’s Kayana Traylor out of position, Fair took two dribbles, backing up toward the right corner. Suddenly, she hoisted a three-point shot over Traylor’s outstretched arm, canning the jumper. The make, which helped Syracuse develop an early 5-0 lead with 7:42 left in the first quarter, was Fair’s 14th make from range out of her last 18 attempts. 

Woolley, who poured in 20 points as one of Syracuse’s only bright spots in its loss to Louisville over this past weekend, also enjoyed a hot start. Knotted at 33 apiece at the end of the second quarter, Alaina Rice drove middle, beating Amoore to the inside of the lane. Noticing that Taylor Geiman was out of position, Rice gave the ball up to Woolley. Woolley didn’t hesitate at all, shooting a 3-pointer that connected with ease. 

Rice totaled 13 points on 50% shooting from the field, going 1-2 from the perimeter and knocking down both her free-throw opportunities. To go along with her shooting performance, Rice also tracked down five boards. 

On one play, Rice, who had recently put together back-to-back, 15-plus point performances against Duke and Virginia, hit a 3-pointer several steps beyond the arc. Her bucket, early in the second quarter, helped give Syracuse a 22-21 lead. 

Almost immediately afterward, Rice hesitated before driving to the rack, giving Amoore a little bump before rising toward the left side of the basket. Contorting her body just slightly, Rice banked in a layup with her right-hand, kissing her shot off of the glass. 

The biggest problem with Syracuse’s offensive output lay in its front court. With Asia Strong out with a lower leg injury, Kyra Wood, Dariauna Lewis and Saniaa Wilson were not only tasked with guarding reigning ACC Player of the Year, Elizabeth Kitley — they also needed to help provide some sort of scoring near the basket. 

Wilson scored the Orange’s first basket of the game. Taking it to the much taller Kitley, Wilson spun, pump-faked, then stepped through with her right, shooting the ball high above her head for a hard-earned two. 

Not long afterward, Lewis pump-faked at the top of the key and drove left on D’asia Gregg. Reaching the lower block, Lewis spun to her right and banked in a floater in traffic. Running down the floor, she appealed for a foul. 

Those two early baskets, however, proved to be just about all that came from SU’s centers. Although Wood gathered four rebounds inside, and was aggressive all game in managing Kitley, she put up a goose-egg on the score sheet. Lewis and Wilson combined for just eight points. 

Kennedi Perkins, who impressed in limited minutes against Louisville once Teisha Hyman left the game with a lower-leg injury, had a pretty solid early going. As soon as she checked in, Perkins earned consecutive three-point play opportunities, converting on one of them. However, the freshman guard committed two costly turnovers and a needless foul on VT’s King mid-way through the fourth quarter, and finished the game with five points. 

Although SU showed bright spots in its scoring besides team-high totals from Fair and Woolley, the Orange’s role players need to do a lot more to step up when needed if they want to win games during the latter end of this ACC season.

Published on February 2, 2023 at 11:38 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff