Irish roll to 93-62 win
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After shaking hands with the Notre Dame staff and players who had soundly defeated her team 93-62, Syracuse Orange Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack rushed to the public address microphone to address the season-best crowd of 4,440.
“I talked about the fans when you weren’t here,” Legette-Jack said. “I’m going to praise you when you do show up.”
Following a loss to UAlbany last month, the third-year coach called out the lack of support from the fanbase, but Sunday, the large crowd saw a disappointing Orange defeat. She implored the fans to keep showing up.
“Stick with us,” she said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re coming.”
On the other side of the court stood a team and program that is “there,” and has been “there” for a long time. Led by a dynamic performance from their backcourt – a combined 69 points and 31 rebounds from Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, and Sonia Citron – No. 10 Notre Dame (7-2, 1-0 ACC) washed Syracuse (4-6, 0-1), 93-62, thanks to a dominant second half.
It’s the first time that the Orange have taken four home losses before New Year’s Day since 1993-94, a season that ended with a 5-23 record.
The first three possessions for the Irish all finished the same way, with turnovers. Even before Notre Dame crossed half court on their first trip, a bad pass and Syracuse deflection forced the teams to fight for the loose ball, eventually going out of bounds on the Orange.
Kyra Wood opened the scoring for Syracuse, with Sophie Burrows layering a pass right to where only Wood could catch it despite the double team. Wood had a strong first quarter, sinking three field goals, but she missed nearly all of the rest of the game with an injury.
“She is such a vital person for us,” Legette-Jack said. “And she couldn’t come back out of the locker room. She really really tried to represent Syracuse, but her body failed her today.”
Right after Syracuse took a 20-19 lead with a Dominique Camp three, Hidalgo bolted from end to end, before the Syracuse defense got set. She dropped in a layup at the horn to give the Irish the lead right back to end the opening frame, 21-20. Despite taking 12 fewer field goals, Notre Dame had the advantage after ten minutes.
Syracuse regained the lead on a touchdown pass from Georgia Woolley to Keira Scott in transition for a layup. It was the second straight layup for Scott and the third and fourth of her career-high 16 points. The freshman has responded well to some inconsistent playing time earlier in the season, and is well on her way to becoming one of the key pieces of Syracuse’s rotation.
Following a missed three by Miles, the Orange had the chance to extend their lead, but Camp and Izabel Varejao were not on the same page, and the former’s pass went right to Hidalgo.
Notre Dame slowed the game down on the next possession. With the ball on the left wing in the hands of Cassandre Prosper, Miles screened for Liatu King at the foul line. King caught the ball near the baseline, but nobody followed Miles back out to the perimeter, and Syracuse would never lead again.
While SU didn’t take advantage of Notre Dame’s turnovers in the first quarter, the Irish started to capitalize of Syracuse turnovers in the second. Woolley couldn’t hit Saniaa Wilson on an entry pass, and Sonia Citron raced down the floor for a foul line jumper, extending the lead out to five.
The Irish took a seven-point lead into the break, and Syracuse fans were treated to the jersey retirement ceremony for Orange legend Kayla Alexander. They could’ve used her on the court in the second half.
Notre Dame pushed the lead from 8 to 24 in the matter of five minutes thanks to turnovers and fastbreak scores. In the middle of the quarter, the Irish scored five consecutive baskets on fast breaks from five different players. By the end of the afternoon, Notre Dame outscored Syracuse on the fastbreak by a whopping 37-6 margin.
Miles scored 13 points in the first half, but took just three field goal attempts in the second half, spraying the ball around to her teammates and breaking down Syracuse’s defense.
The Orange had zero answer for her, Hidalgo, and Citron, who each scored 20 points and grabbed ten rebounds.
“Does it matter (what we do to try and stop them),” Legette-Jack said. “The way they played, the way they showed their leadership, the way they moved the ball around, the way we reached on them and got caught out there. We just have to get better, they’re the best at it. They could be a Final Four team.”
Notre Dame outscored the Orange 29-13 in the third quarter, and then 28-20 in the fourth, keeping its foot on the gas until time expired. It held Syracuse to just 32.5 percent from the field, not allowing Woolley to attempt a single three-pointer.
Now 4-6, Syracuse has a lot of soul-searching to do over the next ten days before travelling down I-81 to face Binghamton on Dec. 18.