Syracuse opens the season with an offensive outburst
A season ago, Syracuse Orange women’s basketball played just 87 minutes without Dyaisha Fair on the floor, scoring her way to third on the all-time points list.
On Tuesday night, the first 40 minutes of the post-Fair era unveiled a much more balanced scoring attack as the Orange rolled to a 108-84 win over Niagara inside the Dome.
Dominique Camp, the other former Buffalo point guard Felisha Legette-Jack brought across the thruway, made her first start in an SU uniform after missing last season with an injury. She immediately brought stability and experience to a backcourt that badly needed it.
Against Niagara’s full-court pressure, she floated a pass over the defense to Izabel Varejao in the low post to open up the scoring within the first minute. Soon after, she found Kyra Wood on the fastbreak off an Izabel Varejao steal, putting the Orange ahead 6-2, and forcing Purple Eagles coach Jada Pierce to call timeout before two minutes had passed.
“We continued to tell each other to stay poised,” Camp said. “Understand that the pressure was not going to go away, and just embrace it.”
Immediately after the timeout, Camp picked up a loose ball after a few different players had fumbled it, and sent a bounce pass across the paint to Wood, who finished with the foul.
Syracuse built its lead up to 20-9, dominating the offensive glass, even as Wood checked out of the game. Freshman Keira Scott impressed in her first quarter of college basketball. At 6 foot 1 with serious strength, she was able to bully Niagara’s post players, scoring eight points in just five minutes of opening frame action.
“She’s different,” Jack said of Scott. “I think we got very blessed to get somebody like her, and to get her early. She can go right, left, into the lane against anybody. I think she might be the only kid I’ve ever coached that can probably end her entire career without getting one assist.”
Strength and speed were enough for Syracuse to outdo Niagara’s notorious havoc defense that led the country in turnover rate last season, but the Orange still looked out of their comfort zone for much of the first half.
SU made key passes past the defense, but when it couldn’t connect on those passes, trouble brewed. The Orange turned the ball over 17 times in the first half, but shot 58% from inside the arc. Syracuse’s top three first-half scorers were all post players, Scott, Wood, and Varejao, and Camp added her first points in two years with a second-quarter three.
Niagara quickly cut the lead from 15 to 10 at the outset of the second half, forcing an immediate turnover, but the Orange kept their distance from there. Wood continued to dominate in the low post, with three consecutive baskets in response, and then Camp drilled her second three.
Two Talia Dial threes cut the lead to nine on separate occasions, but Georgia Woolley’s and-one, and then a third chance basket from Wood after Varejao brought two defenders away from the basket before delivering a pass kept the Orange lead more than safe.
Following Jemima Lacroix’s back-to-back layups bookending the third and fourth quarters, Syracuse’s offense took over the game as Niagara’s legs began to weaken.
Varejao found a cutting Shy Hawkins for a basket, and a minute later, Woolley canned a sidestep three from the left corner. She struggled from beyond the arc last season, at just 29%, but was three-for-five today, including two big fourth-quarter shots to extend the lead. She finished with 18 points.
The Orange put up 35 points in the final ten minutes, good to win by 24, and had six different players in double figures.
Wood led the way with 19, but the freshman duo of Hawkins and Scott added 16 and 14. 12 of Hawkins’ 16 came in the last quarter.
“The one thing that prevents Shy from being soft is the bench,” Jack said. “She got hit a couple of times early, and she kind of backed away. She didn’t play the entire third quarter because I didn’t think she was playing tough enough. I said ‘you got to show me something’.”
Camp and Varejao also finished in double figures, with Camp also recording nine assists.
SU’s next game is on Sunday against Saint Joseph’s, who went 28-6 last season.