With less than eight minutes standing between Syracuse and its third consecutive loss to a ranked opponent, Brittney Sykes took her turn trying to shoulder the offense.

She weaved through Arizona State players under the basket and put in a layup to cut the deficit to four. She tried her hand again on the ensuing possession, clashing with the Sun Devil’s Kelsey Moos down low while dishing the ball to an open teammate behind the arc.

Play froze as Sykes was whistled for the offensive foul, and she dismissively waved her hand at toward the official. It punctuated another fruitless Syracuse possession, and yet another failed attempt to create offense from the floor or the foul line.

“We just didn’t get no calls,” senior guard Cornelia Fondren said. “We shouldn’t expect calls.

“I just think that was the main thing, we just got to go up strong and be tough and go to the basket.”

Fondren was the only Orange player sent to the free-throw line — making both shots with 7:43 left in the second quarter — while the rest of her teammates never got there in the ensuing 27:43. It compounded No. 19 Syracuse’s (6-3) offensive struggles against No. 24 Arizona State (5-3) in a 61-54 loss on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome.

It was apparent from the opening possession, as Alexis Peterson found Brianna Butler and missed an open 3, that SU’s perimeter-heavy offense would be stretched thin. In a lackluster 26-point opening half, Peterson was Syracuse’s only player with more than one made shot.

“(We) were lucky to even be in that game,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said.

As with the deflated foul-shooting numbers, Syracuse was handicapped by its failed attempts to create offensive opportunities. At the start of the second half, ASU’s Katie Hempen found Moos on a fast break to put the Sun Devils up 31-26.

Peterson then pushed Syracuse up the floor for its opening possession, but was whistled at the top of the key as she was trying to set up SU’s offense. She spread her arms out wide in protest of the foul call and Hillsman signaled for a timeout after Arizona State dropped in another layup to extend its lead.

The Syracuse marching band tried to will life back into the Carrier Dome by starting a “Let’s go Orange” chant with a small contingency of SU fans in attendance — most still waiting for Syracuse to make its first basket of the half to sit down again.

“We couldn’t score,” Butler said.

Syracuse never led in the second half, and coupled a season-low 58 shot attempts with a season-worst 23 total rebounds. Each time SU thought it found its answer offensively, the Sun Devils called back.

Butler cut the deficit to four at the start of the fourth quarter with a quick jump shot, but ASU’s Quinn Dornstauder promptly beat SU big Briana Day on a fast break to lay in two more points.

Hillsman shouted, “Don’t relax, keep fighting,” from the sideline. It was as close as Syracuse would ever get to the lead again.

“If you sit back and let Syracuse shoot, then they’ll put 70-80 (points) on you that fast,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said as she snapped her fingers. “We don’t sit back.”

In the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, Syracuse got one of its final breaths from Fondren. She drove to the basket akin to Sykes, bumped into Moos as she threw her shot up and in off the backboard.

There was no whistle for a foul or dismissive reaction. It was the shot Syracuse needed to make against the best nonconference opponent it has left to play, and it didn’t fall until 27.6 seconds remained in the contest.

Said Hillsman: “I’m not concerned. It’s like we’re here in a funeral right now. A lot of games left. I’m not concerned.”

Published on December 12, 2015 at 6:28 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @connorgrossman