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DULUTH, Ga. — In one of the most intense moments of her team’s season, all Felisha Legette-Jack could do was dance.

This, really, was no time for any sort of jubilation from Syracuse’s head coach. Thirty minutes ago, her team was winning by 21 points. They’d held Cal to just 16 points in one of their best halves of the season. One foot was already into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals.

Now, as Syracuse huddled around Legette-Jack on the bench, the clock read 6:16. The score was 52-47. Cal’s Lulu Twidale and Gisella Maul had cut the Orange lead to five, SU guard Dominique Darius was in the locker room with an injury, and Laila Phelia had already picked up her fourth foul. Every offensive possession looked bleak. Really, everything was going wrong for the Orange.

And yet, Legette-Jack stood in front of her team and let the Gas South Arena playlist sink in. She bobbed her head to the music, calmed her team down, drew up some plays and sent them back out there; back into the fire, where their season — and perhaps their NCAA Tournament hopes — hung in the balance. And it worked.

“​​To have your coach just make some fun out of it, I think it’s really important,” SU guard Sophie Burrows said postgame. “We came back onto the floor, and we all just took a moment to breathe. I think that really helped us down the stretch.”

On a night where Syracuse was utterly dominant for half an hour — including a 37-16 halftime advantage — the weight of SU’s season eventually fell on the game’s final five minutes. The No. 7 seed Orange (23-7, 12-6 ACC) did just enough to come out with a far-too-uncomfortable 70-59 win over No. 10 seed Cal (19-10, 9-9 ACC) in the ACC Tournament Second Round Thursday. It’s Legette-Jack’s first ACC Tournament win and SU’s first since 2021.

With the win, the Orange set up a rematch with No. 2 seed Louisville in the conference quarterfinals Friday.

“We understood that there’s gonna be valleys and hills, and we’re gonna have to figure out how to navigate that,” Legette-Jack said. “In the third quarter, Cal gave us a real strong punch. We backpedaled. We didn’t go down, and other people just stepped up. (I’m) just really proud of this relentless effort our players showed.”

During that timeout with six minutes remaining, the Orange were sputtering offensively. To assistant coach Khyreed Carter, though, it was a simple fix: Get the ball to Uche Izoje. Carter was shouting so loudly for the team to get the ball to the ACC Rookie of the Year she thought the referees might call a technical foul on him, Legette-Jack said.

So, out of the timeout, SU drew up three plays to tee up Izoje. First, she received a pass at the low post and drilled a huge pull-up jumper, giving the Orange a sigh of relief. On the next possession, she found the nylon with a turnaround look.

Even after Cal got back within four, Izoje sunk an and-one putback layup to extend the lead to six. Then, Phelia fed her for another layup, plus the foul. It gave the Orange an eight-point cushion they never relinquished.

“One thing about ACC women’s basketball, no lead is going to be 100%,” Legette-Jack said. “Every single team is great. (Cal) is serious. They’re really, really good. But Syracuse is really good, too.”

Syracuse guard Laila Phelia scored 17 points in 38 minutes in No. 7 seed Syracuse’s 11-point win over No. 10 seed Cal Thursday, even standing in at point guard when Dominique Darius got injured in the third quarter. Courtesy of The Atlantic Coast Conference

It was the polar opposite from most of SU’s close games this season. While Legette-Jack always preaches to throw the first punch and pounce early, her team hasn’t always done that in the big moments — hence SU’s losses to then-No. 6 Louisville and Virginia Tech.

The first punch was there Thursday. In fact, it may as well have been thrown by Muhammad Ali himself. Syracuse rocked Cal with a 21-4 run in the game’s opening nine minutes.

While SU turned the ball over on its first possession, Burrows promptly drilled a transition 3 off a Darius steal. Burrows, who missed Syracuse’s last game with a left hand injury, sported tape over her left thumb on Thursday, but it clearly didn’t affect her shot much — she scored Syracuse’s first five points of the game and finished with 13.

Izoje similarly tormented the Golden Bears down low. Operating in the low post, she began the game 4-for-4 from the field on a few turnaround jumpers. Cal, meanwhile, fell into an early 9-0 deficit.

Syracuse continuously pushed the Golden Bears’ possessions deep into the shot clock. With Izoje covering the interior, Cal couldn’t penetrate the Orange effectively. It missed seven straight shots and turned the ball over five times over the next six minutes and change.

The Orange turned the defense into offense, embarking on a 10-0 run with scores from Izoje, Phelia and Journey Thompson. SU shot 55.6% from the field in the first quarter. The Golden Bears, meanwhile, scored a season-low seven points in the frame.

From there, Cal didn’t get within single digits until the fourth quarter. But when the Golden Bears did, SU had to hold its breath.

Looking for a way back into the game, Cal resorted to a full-court press in the third quarter. It allowed them to pull within 10 early as the Orange struggled to break it.

On one possession, SU tried to loft the ball over the top to Darius, but she collided with Sheppard near half court. Both stayed down for a while, and Darius didn’t return to the action after being helped to the locker room.

Postgame, Legette-Jack joked that Darius “has two hands for a reason” and said “she’s gonna have to play, and she will play” in the quarterfinals. But she admitted, in reality, Darius is questionable.

“My prayer is that (Darius) is healthy enough to be able to go again, against an incredibly good team in Louisville,” Legette-Jack said. “If not, we’re just gonna have to give our best effort with the people that can go.”

Syracuse guard Dominique Darius exited Syracuse’s ACC Tournament win over Cal Thursday with an injury in the third quarter. Postgame, SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she’s questionable to play versus No. 2 Louisville in the quarterfinals Friday Courtesy of The Atlantic Coast Conference

Without one of its best players on the court, Syracuse sputtered. Phelia — who had a team-high 13 points at that point in the game — took the ball-handling duties, but the Orange struggled to find clean looks offensively. Cal went on a quick 9-0 run as SU went scoreless for over four minutes.

The Orange couldn’t stop the bleeding in the fourth. Cal got within five at the 6:26 mark after a Taylor Barnes free throw. Legette-Jack needed a timeout.

The season felt threatened. All the work she’d done to build this roster for March was crumbling in front of her eyes. But, in her mind, her team still had a lead. What was there to worry about?

So, Legette-Jack let loose. In turn, so did her team.

The tension was gone after Izoje did her thing. No flight back to Syracuse tonight. No lingering questions over whether the Orange will make March Madness. No tears in the locker room — only the ones forming in Legette-Jack’s eyes at the postgame press conference when she reflected on her team’s resilience.

“It’s not going to be clean, it’s not going to be cute… They just said, ‘Next person up, finish.’ And they finished it,” Legette-Jack said.

Having never been to the second round of the conference tournament, Legette-Jack admittedly has “no idea” what the next 24 hours look like. There’ll be some film to watch. Some mouths to feed. Some healing to do — especially for SU’s starting point guard, Darius.

But, for the next few hours, Legette-Jack will let it sink in. She’ll hit her head on the pillow tonight with a feeling she’s never had before, having won her first ACC Tournament game. And tomorrow, when the Orange have to do it all over again, she’ll let the music play.

Because calm is contagious. And in March, you need it more than ever.

Published on March 5, 2026 at 7:20 pm
Contact Harris: harrispemberton@gmail.com | @HarrisPemb6