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Syracuse has had a rocky week, to say the least. On Wednesday, the Orange suffered a last-second loss to UAlbany after Lilly Phillips drained a game-winning 3. After the contest, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack went on a two-and-a-half-minute rant, pointing out the low attendance in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Five days later, Syracuse headed to Niceville, Florida, for the Emerald Coast Classic. It began on a high note, destroying Missouri 82-59 to advance to the Beach Bracket Championship versus Creighton, the winner of the other semifinal matchup.

Though against the Bluejays, who received two votes in the Week 4 AP Poll, SU reverted to its losing ways. Creighton (4-2, 0-0 Big East) dominated Syracuse (3-4, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 86-59 to capture the Beach Bracket Championship. The Bluejays never trailed throughout the contest and shot 15-for-28 on 3s. Morgan Maly led the way with 28 points while Lauren Jensen added 21.

“We got beat by a great team and we’re not ready to be in the gym with these teams right now,” Legette-Jack said. “We’re gonna keep working and we’re gonna keep getting better.”

Creighton got out to a fast start, and SU couldn’t stop it. Jensen started by drilling a 3, and after Izabel Varejão responded with a layup, Maly drained another. Soon after, Creighton increased its lead to 9-3 after Molly Mogensen cashed in from distance.

Sophie Burrows canned a 3, but Jensen immediately followed with her second of the night. A minute later, the senior hit another, forcing Legette-Jack to call an early timeout with SU trailing 17-7.

The break didn’t work. Kyra Wood traveled in the paint, leading to Maly sinking a contested layup. Kiani Lockett followed by scooping up a Georgia Woolley miss and converting an easy shot off the glass.

After Woolley redeemed herself, Maly bagged another left-handed triple, pushing Creighton’s lead to 24-9. The quarter ended with Jensen adding her fourth 3 from the left corner and Kennedy Townsend converting a layup. The Bluejays’ advantage extended to a whopping 29-9.

Legette-Jack noted Creighton’s more experienced team, led by seniors Maly and Jensen, as a reason for its early success. The Bluejays’ roster contains just two underclassmen compared to the Orange’s six.

“That’s five fifth-year seniors, two graduate players and a (veteran) coach,” Legette-Jack said. “That’s a system that’s unbelievable, and I would love to have played them last year with a seasoned team.”

The second quarter began with Keira Scott instantly canning a 3 from the top of the key. Wood then tacked on a layup to cut SU’s deficit to 29-14.

Yet, Creighton answered with a 13-1 run. Brooke Littrell started by drilling a floater and Maly cashed in her third triple. Moments later, Jensen hit nylon on her fifth 3 of the night in just the 14th minute. Maly took over the scoring soon after, hitting a mid-range and 3-point jumper on successive possessions. Creighton led 42-15 heading into the media timeout.

After the break, Scott ended the run with an easy layup following an Olivia Schmitt steal. But the Bluejays responded instantly, as Jayme Horan notched her first triple — Creighton’s 11th of 12 first-half 3s.

Lockett tallied another triple to end the Bluejays’ first-half barrage, and Maly sank a floater to put them up 55-21.

Through one half, Creighton finished 12-for-15 beyond the arc. Legette-Jack said she tried switching from player-to-player to a 1-3-1 zone defense to disrupt the Bluejays’ rhythm, but it didn’t work.

“That first half was just brutal,” Legette-Jack said. “We tried everything. We thought that they were going to miss a shot or two. I’ve never seen a team shoot 83% from the 3-point line like that.”

To begin the second half, Lexi McNabb and Woolley both turned the ball over, and Maly made them pay with her fifth 3. Then, Varejão sank a second-chance layup and Woolley tacked on two free throws, pushing the score to 58-25.

But SU’s surge was short-lived. Maly sank yet another wide-open triple. Three minutes passed with no scoring following her make, though Varejão found Wood under the basket to end the drought. Yet Horan tallied her second triple of the night and Maly dished to Jensen inside to push the Bluejays’ advantage to 66-29.

After a media timeout, Dominique Camp and Jensen both converted layups. Then, Creighton missed its first back-to-back 3s of the game, but SU failed to take advantage, as Journey Thompson missed 2-of-2 free throws.

Syracuse added five points heading into another timeout, with Thompson hitting a layup and Camp canning just SU’s third 3 of the night. However, Creighton still led 72-36 with a minute left in the third.

To end the quarter, Jensen heaved up a 3 at the end of the shot clock and misfired. Heading the other way, Woolley made a floater to reach six points on the night. Thompson redeemed herself by hitting two free throws, the final points in the quarter after a half-court attempt at the buzzer by Woolley fell short.

With Creighton resting most of its starters, the Orange outscored it 19-12 in the fourth quarter. Though for the first four minutes, a layup by Maly was both squads’ only made basket.

Following this stretch, Angelica Velez and Schmitt hit their first shots of the night, followed by a Schmitt 3 to cut Syracuse’s deficit to 83-53. After one final timeout, Scott and Littrell traded layups, before the final whistle blew, signaling the end of the contest.

Despite a promising victory over Missouri on Monday, Syracuse fell back down to Earth in its bout with the Bluejays. Still, Legette-Jack continues to take the losses as necessary bumps in the road.

“That wasn’t fun,” Legette-Jack said. “That’s a lesson that you never want to have your players learn. But it’s a lesson nevertheless, right? It’s a lesson that we needed to go through and we needed to learn.”

Published on November 26, 2024 at 10:24 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99