Syracuse women’s basketball rolls past SMU 78-69 in ACC opener
Syracuse continued its strong stretch to open the year Sunday against SMU, staying in control the whole way through for a nine-point win. Courtesy of SU Athletics
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Eleven months ago, a broken Syracuse basketball team continued to collapse. It’d opened Atlantic Coast Conference play with three double-digit losses and was set to face SMU for the first time in program history. Then, things turned from bad to worse.
With one second remaining in overtime and the Mustangs down 71-70, Nya Robertson stepped past Georgia Woolley, lofting a floater off the back rim that sank in. Woolley fell to the ground, her hands pounding the hardwood. Izabel Varejão bent over in disbelief. A near signature win became a haunting defeat.
“This is a game we should have came through, but we didn’t, and we need to get better,” SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said after the loss.
Now, 332 days later, Syracuse and SMU met again, this time in contrasting positions. SU was coming off a statement win over Auburn Wednesday, while the Mustangs abused the high school ranks and transfer portal to build an entirely new roster.
But even faced with unseen competition, Syracuse (8-1, 1-0 ACC) dominated from start to finish, rolling past SMU (4-6, 0-1 ACC) 78-69 in the two teams’ ACC opener. Any hope for the Mustangs quickly vanished as Syracuse surged to a 25-9 first-quarter lead behind five 3-pointers and Uche Izoje’s five blocks. The Orange led by at least eight points for the rest of the game, claiming another statement win.
“This is a team that’s seen the fire right in front of them, but in order to get to that growth, we gotta keep going forward through the fire,” Legette-Jack said postgame.
Before every matchup, one of associate head coach Natasha Adair’s jobs is to create a “toughness (task),” Legette-Jack said. Sunday’s task was “to fly around defensively and hold someone in front of you.” Adair harped on Syracuse finding ways to “open the gate” and begin on the right foot, setting the tone for the remainder of the game. In the first quarter, the Orange held true.
Sophie Burrows — who led SU with 65 3s last season — started the scoring, sinking a triple from the right wing a minute and a half in. In a rather slow start to her third season at Syracuse, Burrows led the Orange with 22 points — her fifth-career time hitting the 20-point mark.
Meanwhile, on defense and the glass, the Mustangs couldn’t keep up. In its five-game losing streak from Nov. 8 to Nov. 25, SMU scored over 12 points in the first quarter just twice. On Sunday, its early woes were evident across the board.
SMU didn’t hit its first shot until it trailed 7-0 halfway through the first quarter. SU had taken a 13-4 rebounding advantage, nine of which were offensive.
Then, the Orange fully took over.
Dominique Darius hit a corner 3 to put Syracuse ahead 10-2. A steal by Izoje two minutes later led to Burrows’ second 3. Laila Phelia joined in, hitting two triples within 33 seconds of each other to extend SU’s lead to 25-6. Following a program-worst 0-for-16 performance from distance against Auburn, the Orange knocked down a season-high 11 3s on 28 attempts versus the Mustangs.
“Your job is to shoot the ball because you practice,” Legette-Jack said of Burrows, who ended with a game-high five 3s. “If she misses, she’s trained to do two things: get it off the glass or get it out of the net. She stuck to her assignment.”
Burrows didn’t just contribute on the scoreboard but also added six rebounds and five assists, helping Syracuse finish the first quarter on a 9-for-13 run.
However, a slow start for the Orange in the second allowed the Mustangs to claw back. With Tyi Skinner, SMU’s leading scorer (15.1 points per game), held scoreless through the first 24 minutes — the first time she went without a basket in a half this season — Ayanna Thompson stepped up.
A Journey Thompson missed jumper was corralled by Skinner, who pushed it ahead to Ayanna for the bucket. On the Mustangs’ next possession, Ayanna skipped between Olivia Schmitt and Keira Scott, cutting SMU’s deficit to 27-13.
Legette-Jack said SU began to stray away from Adair’s tasks as the quarter went on, and the Mustangs took advantage by going on a 9-4 run. But after missing seven of their first nine shots, the Orange finally got going again.
“We’re not gonna be defined by a miss or a score. We’re gonna be defined by our character, and what does our character look like? Do we quit when it gets tough or continue to play through?” Legette-Jack said.
Journey forced a steal from Miriam Ibezim, converting a layup. Burrows followed with a personal 6-0 run, splashing her third 3 of the game before earning a trip to the line for three more points.
As SU opened the second half with a 39-24 lead, its focus shifted from matching SMU’s offense to keeping it in check. It did so courtesy of Burrows, who hit her fourth 3 of Sunday’s game just two minutes into the third quarter.
Darius followed suit with two treys, and Phelia added another. When SMU called a timeout with 5:22 to play in the third, SU had already hit a season-high nine 3-pointers. Madeline Potts then gave Syracuse a 59-44 lead entering the fourth quarter with her second 3 of the season.
The Mustangs kept things interesting down the stretch, cutting their deficit to eight in the final 10 minutes — their closest since the first quarter — but the Orange never lost their grip and finished in dominant fashion.
Legette-Jack made it crystal clear after the Orange’s win versus the Tigers that they weren’t done. She said her squad takes each game one at a time, simply stating they wanted more. Starting ACC play on the right foot is something Syracuse couldn’t do last year, but with its win over SMU, that narrative already appears to be changing.
“(We can go) all the way. We have the talent. We have the energy. We have the togetherness,” Burrows said. “We have what it takes to get right to the end.”
