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Syracuse headed into the half against No. 7 Notre Dame down by just five at the JMA Wireless Dome. Its defense and efficient transition offense controlled the Fighting Irish after 20 minutes of play. 

However, even though both teams recorded 19 points in the third, a fourth-quarter SU collapse, spearheaded by an offensive masterpiece from ND’s Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey, saw the Fighting Irish run away with what initially looked to be a close contest. After stringing together a three game ACC win streak, the Orange lost 72-56. 

On Thursday, SU traveled to Atlanta for its matchup against a struggling Georgia Tech team. Despite trailing 31-30 after two quarters, the Orange looked to be in control the whole way through. However, an impressive fourth-quarter charge, led by tough shot making and freshman guard Tonie Morgan, helped the Yellow Jackets earn a hard-fought 10th win of the season and their first conference win. 

Here are some observations from SU’s loss to Georgia Tech (10-9, 1-7 ACC).

Still can’t stop this backcourt

Halfway into the first quarter, with the score knotted at six apiece, Dyaisha Fair still hadn’t scored yet. Bringing the ball up the floor and opting to go left, Fair stood, isolated with her defender just inside the 3-point line, positioned in the corner. Given too much space, she pulled up and cashed in the mid-range jumper. 

On the next possession, Fair favored the left side again, this time only making it to the wing before she spotted a wide-open Teisha Hyman. Squared up and ready to shoot from the exact spot where Fair hit on Syracuse’s last offensive trip, Hyman caught a pass from her backcourt partner to give the Orange a four-point lead. 

The second quarter started much like the first ended. Fair toyed with her defender on the perimeter before slicing inside and pulling up for a double-clutch jumper near the free-throw line. Her attempt banked in to give Syracuse a 17-13 edge. 

Off of a Dariauna Lewis steal, Hyman pushed the pace and used her body well to shake off her immediate defender. Rising up uncontested, Hyman hit a runner off the glass for her second bucket of the game. 

Wood, Lewis impress early, fall apart Late

Tallying six points in the opening quarter, Kyra Wood cemented herself as a valuable starter for Syracuse. Even though SU’s three-game ACC winning streak was snapped by No. 7 Notre Dame last Sunday, the forward recorded a great all-around game with eight points and nine rebounds. 

A little under seven minutes in the second quarter, Lewis caught the ball in the left quarter, evading a reaching defender. Driving baseline, she stepped through two defenders to finish with a sweet lefty layup. Up until that point, Lewis had already corralled eight rebounds. 

The second half was a completely different story. 

The two struggled to make shots in-close, missing layups off of potential assists from both Hyman and Fair. Additionally, Lewis, like many other Syracuse players tonight, failed to shoot adequately from the charity stripe. 

Morgan, Swartz, lead impressive upset

After one quarter, Cameron Swartz had a team-high seven points off the bench. 

Nearing the end of the first half, after Fair had made an impressive pull-up jumper to increase the Syracuse lead, Georgia Tech hit Swartz on the fast break. With possession of the ball on the right wing, the graduate transfer from Boston College showed no hesitation, immediately hoisting a shot up. Swartz canned the jumper — a direct and swift response. 

Near the midpoint of the third quarter, Syracuse had opened up its biggest lead over the Yellow Jackets with a six-point advantage. This didn’t bother Morgan. After Georgia Tech cut the deficit to just two, Morgan fearlessly took on her defender, driving to her left before finishing with her right to tie things up at 40 apiece. 

A few minutes later, Morgan raced down the floor in transition, streaking down the right side of the court. Not intimidated in the slightest by the smaller Fair in front of her, Morgan cupped the ball over the Syracuse point guard and converted to give GT a 44-41 lead with 1:14 left in the third quarter. 

Morgan put the icing on the cake with 1:32 left to play as she cashed in on a layup. The offensive conversion came after she poked the ball loose, stealing possession from Hyman before coasting in to add more points on the board. 

It should never have been this close

Against Yale, Syracuse needed more than 30 attempts at the free-throw line and a final possession of brilliance to win. Against Coppin State and Pittsburgh, Syracuse needed to overcome alarmingly slow starts to clinch second-half comebacks to win. 

Tonight, against a 9-9 Georgia Tech team, SU’s performance was no different. 

Although the Orange showed brilliance on both sides of the ball at times throughout this contest, their inability to put the game to bed early made this game far more of a nail-biter than it should have been. In fact, Syracuse should have come away with a win. 

At the start of every quarter, Syracuse seemed to have things in control before abysmal ends to each period helped the Yellow Jackets regain their confidence. To end the first quarter, Georgia Tech went on a 7-1 run to tie things up at 13. GT also went on runs of 9-2 and 14-7 to end the second and third periods, respectively.

Although, at one point, the Orange tied things up at 51 apiece, SU quickly fell apart afterward. Missed free-throws, ill-advised shots, allowing offensive rebounds and careless turnovers resulted in panic and confusion from Syracuse. The team that looked to be in the driver’s seat and in control for the majority of this matchup is now 0.500 in league play. 

Published on January 19, 2023 at 9:30 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff