A nice way to close out the weekend
Three days after leading for 34 minutes before losing at home to a good NC State team, Syracuse trailed by 5 entering the final frame at Littlejohn Coliseum against Clemson.
The Orange had just been outscored by seven in the third quarter, and went down by as much as seven points after taking a seven-point lead early in the frame, but the game flipped.
“It’s not about the last one,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “It’s about finishing what we started. (Going into the fourth quarter) I said ‘agressive composure.’ Be aggressive, but don’t lose your composure.”
And that’s exactly what the Orange did. Kyra Wood and Izabel Varejao dominated the glass in the fourth, and helped Syracuse (8-12, 2-7 ACC) pull off a 67-55 win over Clemson (11-10, 4-6 ACC) for the first road win of ACC play, snapping a three-game losing streak.
“The kids in this locker room have really been working hard to understand each other,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “To become a sisterhood, and really fighting for something bigger than themselves. To see that displayed, it says a resiliency that we’re really gonna have to lock into and hopefully we can bring that for the rest of the season.”
Like so many times in the season, the Orange started the game off with a bucket on the first possession in the low post, with Varejao scoring off a feed from Maddie Potts, who got the start in favor of Georgia Woolley. While Woolley did come into the game early in the first quarter, draining an outside shot, Syracuse allowed three threes in the first quarter, and Clemson opened up a 14-9 lead with a 7-0 run.
Potts drained a three of her own, exceeding her season average of 3.2 points per game with five first-quarter points.
Syracuse trailed 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, but Clemson would be stuck on that number for a while. The Tigers didn’t want to challenge Varejao and Wood in the post, and ended up settling for many threes. Over a three-plus minute stretch in the second, Clemson attempted seven field goals, all of them coming from behind the arc, and none of them going in.
Meanwhile, the Orange pounded the ball into the paint, scoring at the rim and drawing fouls en route to a 13-0 run to start the quarter, building a nine-point lead. After Hannah Kohn’s three-pointer with 1:56 to play in the first quarter, Clemson missed its next 15 field goals. The Tigers went 9:27 without a made shot until Addie Porter drained a three off an extra pass in the corner with 2:29 to play in the first half, cutting SU’s lead to six.
Dominique Camp answered with a three, but Clemson scored the final seven points of the half to cut the Syracuse lead to 28-26 at the break.
Clemson went on another run in the final minutes of the third quarter, holding Syracuse without a point for over five minutes before Wood made two free throws with five seconds left to cut the Tiger lead to five.
Down by two with under eight minutes to play, Varejao came to the middle point of a shifted Clemson zone, and found a wide-open Potts on the opposite wing for three, giving the Orange a 49-48 lead.
The freshman finished with a career-high 13 points in a career-high 35 minutes.
“I’m telling you, Maddie Potts is going to be a feared person in this conference,” Legette-Jack said. “That three-ball is really going in, and now she’s trying to drive it a little bit too. I’m excited about our future, I’m excited about our now.”
While Potts’ first big-time performance for the Orange played a key role, Syracuse won this game with physicality.
After Clemson tied the game at 49, Wood caught the ball at the elbow, and put up a jumper through a defender to give Syracuse the lead. It would be the game’s final lead change.
Syracuse held Clemson to 3-17 from the field in the fourth quarter, and limited second chance opportunities, winning the battle on the glass 17-7. Wood and Varejao applied pressure on the inside all game, getting to the basket, the line, and making free throws. They each scored 16 points, with Varejao collecting 12 rebounds, and Wood grabbing 11 of her own.
The Orange were the tougher team in the final ten minutes, and it resulted in outscoring Clemson 25-8.
“Before, I could see their eyes and they’re shifting and they’re worried,” Legette-Jack said. “(Today), not one person, even the ones in the back row, looked like they were flustered. That’s the sign of a team that’s coming, and we are.”
SU held the Tigers – who are a top 50 three-point shooting team in the country – to just 8 for 33 from beyond the arc. Clemson’s 33.8 eFG% on the afternoon was its third lowest of the season, and worst of ACC play.
Syracuse is on bye in the midweek before returning to the Dome to face Virginia on Sunday.