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The Orange clawed their way all the back. After going on a 10-3 run, Syracuse cut Maryland’s lead to 83-81. With 10 seconds left, the Orange had an opportunity to tie or take the lead.

Georgia Woolley inbounded as Sophie Burrows and Alyssa Latham were positioned at the top of the 3-point arc, while Aliana Rice and Dyaisha Fair were parallel to them in the paint. As Woolley looked for an option, Burrows and Latham crashed the paint, and Rice traveled near midcourt to receive a bounce pass.

After gathering the ball, Rice was matched one-on-one with Lavender Briggs. Rice initially looked to pass the ball to Woolley, who led the Orange with 21 points, on the right wing, but she wasn’t open. Instead, Rice cut toward the paint, where she met three Maryland defenders, causing her to pick up her dribble. With less than a second, Bri McDaniel poked the ball away, ending the game without the Orange getting a shot off.

“We lost our handle, what we negated was the fact that we needed to get the ball off,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said postgame. “We’re going to learn a lesson about that play, I think it’s a play that is going to help us win a game in the future.”

Despite battling with No. 20 Maryland (2-2, 0-0 Big Ten), Syracuse (3-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) lost control in the fourth quarter, falling 83-81 to drop its first game of the season. The Orange and Terrapins traded leads 21 times, but Maryland regained the lead with eight minutes left and never relinquished it. The Orange clawed their way back from an eight-point deficit to force a one-possession game in the closing seconds, but they couldn’t capitalize.

After Syracuse led Maryland 38-35 at halftime, the teams remained within a possession of each other until just over three minutes remained in the third quarter.

Despite struggling from the field, Fair nailed a 3-pointer regaining a 55-53 SU lead. On the ensuing defensive possession, Syracuse forced Allie Kubek, who scored a game-high 23 points, to miss a layup and immediately pushed the ball ahead to Fair. Again, Fair nailed a 3-pointer giving SU a five-point lead which quickly turned into a seven-point lead after Kyra Wood converted on a layup 50 seconds later.

Following Syracuse’s run and facing its largest deficit of the game, Maryland dialed up its defensive intensity. The Terrapins forced Syracuse into consecutive turnovers off of inbounds passes, and Kubek scored on both possessions, cutting Syracuse’s lead to 60-57.

Then, the Orange turned the ball over again, which led to a fastbreak layup for Shyanne Sellers. On the ensuing possession, Fair missed a 3 and Maryland again pounded the ball down low to Kubek, giving the Terrapins a 61-60 lead.

A late basket from Rice gave Syracuse the lead after three quarters. Still, Maryland carried its momentum into the fourth quarter.

Wood scored her second basket of the game 38 seconds into the fourth quarter, but Syracuse didn’t make another field goal until Izabel Varejão nailed the first 3-pointer of her collegiate career with 3:55 remaining in the game.

Until Varejão’s 3, Maryland had gone on a 12-5 run, but now its lead had been trimmed to 73-70. Over the next 90 seconds, however, the Terrapins grew their lead to a game-high eight points.

After a big layup from Kubek that gave Maryland its eight-point lead, Fair answered with a pair of free throws and a steal that set up an Latham second-chance layup.

Sellers responded on the other end hitting a shot from mid-range, but then Woolley knocked down her second 3 of the game. Jakia Brown-Turner scored on a pull-up jumper, then Alaina Rice canned a 3-pointer to make it an 83-81 game with 23 seconds remaining.

The Terrapins called a timeout before inbounding the ball to Bri McDaniel, who was immediately swarmed by Dyaisha Fair and Woolley. With Woolley in position to force a jump ball, Maryland used another timeout to retain possession.

On their ensuing inbounds pass, the Terrapins got the ball in the hands of their star guard, Shyanne Sellers. When she received the ball, Sellers was met by Fair and soon after by Woolley. To avoid turning the ball over, Sellers passed the ball to Brown-Turner on her left.

Brown-Turner dribbled into the left corner, where she was met by a double team from Latham and Wood. Stagnant in the corner, Wood deflected the ball out of Brown-Turner’s hand and off of her leg, giving the Orange one last chance. Unfortunately, it never came into fruition.

“We were down, we fought our way back… 21 lead changes in a game like this, this is good for women’s basketball,” Legette-Jack said. “With this new coach and this new team, I’m excited about our future. I can’t wait to see our tomorrows.”

Published on November 19, 2023 at 2:56 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon