Miranda Drummond limped off after rolling her right ankle with about four minutes left in Sunday’s game. She got it retaped and quickly returned, missing just 33 seconds of game-clock time, and SU’s leading scorer on the day incited a big roar from the Carrier Dome crowd as she retook the floor. On the first possession she was back, Drummond caught the ball on the right wing. She faked a pass before draining a 3, her sixth, to put SU up seven. The next two Syracuse possessions ended the same way, with Drummond 3s, her seventh and eighth.

“I was very angry and I knew I’m coming back in the game, there’s no way I’m sitting out,” Drummond said. “So I just told (the trainer) to tape it up as many times as you can so it’d cut off all circulation so I knew I could get back in the game.”

Tiana Mangakahia scored 44 points against Georgia Tech three days ago in a Syracuse win. Entering today, she was averaging 18.6 points per game. But her first basket on Sunday came with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter. She finished with just five points.

Syracuse (14-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) survived anyway, upsetting Florida State (14-2, 2-1) 76-69 behind Drummond’s career-high 38 points and program-record tying eight 3-pointers. She was the only Syracuse player to score double-digit points.

“As long as we’re winning,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said, “I’m not trying to figure it out.”

Drummond was set up for a big game because FSU designed its defense to shut down Mangakahia. Every time the SU point guard came around a defender, there was another waiting to slow her down or double team her. But helpside defenders committing to another player means open shooters, and Drummond wasn’t missing when she was open, making 8-of-13 from beyond the arc along with 6-of-7 from inside it.

“I guess it was just one of those days,” Drummond said. “I knew it was a really important game and I had to knock down shots … It’s a good feeling to make shots.”

Drummond credited her teammates with doing all the “hard work” and allowing her to have easy shots. Drummond’s off-ball movement set her up for simple baskets.

Amaya Finklea-Guity was the first to set up Drummond. The freshman center received an entry pass on the right block as Drummond cut down the middle of the lane. Finklea-Guity found her for the easy finish. It was Drummond’s first bucket on a big day for Syracuse’s most-frequent 3-point maker.

In the second quarter, Mangakahia pushed the ball up the right side of the floor as Drummond flew parallel to her, open, on the left. Mangakahia saw her wing the whole way and instead of flinging a cross-court pass, she just dribbled toward the top of the key to make it an easy pass. Drummond didn’t let her point guard down, as she spotted up on the left side and knocked the 3 down.

Right before the halftime buzzer, Mangakahia dribbled on the left side of the floor and let the clock wind down. Drummond came and set a screen for her point guard. Florida State sent another double team, Drummond popped unimpeded to the left wing and Mangakahia found her. The ensuing 3-point make gave Drummond 18 first-half points, Mangakahia six first-half assists and Syracuse a one-point halftime lead.

“Miranda was amazing,” Hillsman said. “She took shots with confidence and she took some big ones and the shots she made were just so timely.”

After FSU took a three-point lead early in the third quarter, Mangakahia drove and found Drummond open in the left corner for her fourth 3. The teams went back and forth in the third. FSU buckets were followed up by a Finklea-Guity layup set up by Mangakahia and a Drummond swished 3, again courtesy of a Mangakahia pass.

Following an FSU 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that gave the Seminoles the lead, Drummond cut backdoor and Mangakahia found her on a similar cut to the one in the first half, Drummond sliding behind from the left corner. Through contact, Drummond finished the layup for an and-one. She and Mangakahia shared a quick embrace, and Drummond made the free throw to put SU back up by two.

“(Mangakahia) created a lot of shots for me, she attacked,” Drummond said. “Obviously her coming off a 44-point game, they’re gonna put more pressure on her, so she helped create for other players on the team and I thought she did what she had to do.”

The next two minutes of the game featured no made shots for either team. But then Drummond snatched an offensive rebound. After a ball reversal, she caught it at the free-throw line and used a jab step to free herself for a drive left down the lane. She finished with her right hand to put SU up four.

Just a few minutes later, Drummond rolled her ankle. She returned to the game and couldn’t miss. Her three rapid-fire 3s gave her eight for the game, the sequence pushed Drummond to 11 straight points and FSU never got closer than seven points again.

Thursday was Mangakahia’s day to set a career-high. On Sunday, when she was the focus of the frequent Seminoles double teams, it was Drummond who made FSU pay and led Syracuse to an upset victory.

“It’s a great win,” Drummond said. “We knew that they’re a great team and we’re just glad we did our part and got out with the win.”

Published on January 7, 2018 at 3:20 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3