Each of Syracuse’s four seniors said goodbye to the Carrier Dome floor in their own signature way.

Point guard Rachel Coffey threw one last three-quarters court pass on the fast break. Center Shakeya Leary posted up one last time on the low block. Phylesha Bullard swished one last fundamentally sound jump shot. And La’Shay Taft — with a grin from ear to ear — drained one final 3 pointer.

On Sunday, the quartet of Syracuse (20-8, 9-6 Atlantic Coast) seniors ended their home careers in style, routing Pittsburgh 67-36. With one final regular-season game looming before the ACC tournament, the time has come for this senior class to put its final touches on a brilliant four-year stretch.

“It’s about their longevity here, all four of them have really been solid for our program,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “They were the No. 10 recruiting class in the country, so they’re all very talented players.

“I believe you have to have a foundation, and they’ve provided that for us.”

Sunday’s win gave this senior class 91 career wins — and a 91-41 overall record — good for the second most of any class in program history. That total trails only last year’s seniors, who finished with 96 victories. There have been blowout wins, like Sunday against the Panthers, and wins that weren’t decided until the final buzzer.

Coffey remembers the game against Toledo in the National Invitation Tournament her sophomore year when she hit a 3 with 2.4 seconds left to force overtime, before SU won the game 74-73. Another game Coffey fondly remembers was last season’s win over St. John’s, in which Brittney Sykes stole an inbounds pass with three seconds remaining and hit a half-court buzzer-beater to win 60-57.

Those were some of the marquee moments, but what Hillsman and Sykes praised of this senior class is their patience.

Leary came in to the program in 2009 and redshirted for a year. For four years she sat behind incumbent center Kayla Alexander. This season, Leary has averaged eight points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

After starting 29 games her sophomore year, Coffey took a backup role to Cornelia Fondren before being reinserted into the starting lineup this year. On Jan. 26 against Virginia, she scored a season-high 17 points and handed out six assists.

For Taft, the sharpshooter has clawed back into the rotation after an 18-point performance against Florida State.

Despite the Orange having guaranteed a first-round bye in the ACC tournament, the team is still on the NCAA tournament bubble. Being in and out of the Top 25, and having signature wins over then-No. 6 North Carolina and then No. 11-Texas A&M will help the Orange’s quest to get back to the tournament for the second consecutive year — which would be a fitting ending for this group of seniors.

“This conference is so cluttered,” Hillsman said. “You don’t want to be the guy with the pencil and pen and eraser trying to figure out what-ifs. You just want to go win your games and get you in a position to take care of your own business.”

And one thing Hillsman, Coffey and Leary echoed is the need to keep winning games. They’ve been here before, and know how important the team’s coming schedule is.

“I don’t get into predictions,” Coffey said. “I just worry about the games and try to win them. Hopefully they predict to put us in.”

For this senior class, a win in the regular-season finale and a few wins in either the ACC or NCAA tournament could push them past last year’s senior class to become the winningest class in program history.

If that happens, it would be a fitting ending for a class that has fought to get where it is.

“It’s unreal, really, because it all went really fast,” Coffey said. “We just need to finish strong. We can’t lose any of these games. We’ve gotta finish strong and make the tournament and just keep winning.”

Published on February 25, 2014 at 2:40 am

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