When Brianna Butler left the court Thursday night, she did so a hero.

Syracuse’s 3-point specialist scored seven points in the span of 1:02 to turn a two-point deficit into a three-point lead late in the second half at No. 6 North Carolina.

Her heroics gravely contrasted her performance Sunday, however, as Butler’s swishes turned to air balls in her worst shooting performance of the season.

“I was able to get my shots up,” Butler said. “I just wasn’t able to make them today.”

Butler tied her season-high for shots attempted with 20, but only connected four times, all in the first half. She scored just nine points, and couldn’t captain a second-half comeback in Syracuse’s (16-6, 5-4 Atlantic Coast) 89-64 loss to No. 8 Maryland (17-4, 5-3) on Sunday at the Carrier Dome in front of 1,312 fans.

“Obviously Butler shooting the ball the way she shot, it was probably her legs,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “It’s one of those things where we fought to get the win on the road that we got.”

Butler looked fatigued on the court. Many of her shots weren’t even close. With 16 minutes to go in the second half, she pulled up for a 3-pointer that didn’t even touch the rim. Three minutes later, her two-point shot was blocked by Alecia DeVaughn.

Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said her team made adjustments following the damage Butler did on Thursday.

“We wanted to force her right,” Frese said. “She’s predominantly really strong just going to her left. She’s a tremendous shooter, and we needed her to have to take difficult shots under duress.”

In the first half, Butler couldn’t get many clean looks from behind the arc. She went 1-for-5 from 3 but seven shots came from the inside, as Butler was forced to try to score off the dribble.

She missed three shots in the span of 31 seconds. After missing her second attempt, she grabbed her own rebound, then air-balled the next attempt right after.

“They did a good job of getting her off of spots and not giving her spot up jump shots,” Hillsman said. “So, what do you say to that? I mean, they did what they should do to her. Get her off the 3-point line and make her put the ball on the floor to be aggressive.”

In the latter stages of the second half, Butler, who committed a team-high four turnovers, sat on the bench with a blank stare on her face. She toweled the sweat off her face and clapped lightly at her teammates’ contributions.

It wasn’t the same situation in which she found herself in the final moments against UNC, a team regarded just as highly as Maryland. Instead of hugging her teammates after a program-defining win, she had only her thoughts following a blowout loss.

Against UNC she put the team on her back. Against Maryland, her ice-cold shooting couldn’t keep Syracuse in the game.

“She got looks,” Hillsman said. “She just missed shots today. It happens. So, I think if she shoots the ball and gets her average, it’s a totally different ballgame.”

Published on February 2, 2014 at 5:17 pm

Contact Sam: [email protected] | @SamBlum3