Women's Basketball

Syracuse can’t dig itself out of early hole in 71-53 loss to No. 14 Louisville

Sabrina Koenig | Staff Photographer

Alexis Peterson lies flat on the court as the ball bounces in front of her. Syracuse couldn't come back from a 21-point first-half deficit.

Associate head coach Vonn Read tugged Quentin Hillsman’s left arm back toward the Syracuse bench, but the head coach shrugged him off and remained screaming on the court.

“Come on,” he yelled. “That didn’t look right.”

Brianna Butler had just taken a step-back jumper from the left corner, but the Louisville defender in front of her crashed to the floor and Butler was called for an offensive foul.

Hillsman berated the officials until he was called for a technical foul.

His frustrations were boiling over. Hillsman’s team had scored just four points in the opening nine minutes of the game and ultimately finished the first frame with just six points, its lowest scoring quarter of the season. Louisville got out to a dominating 37-8 lead to start the game that proved too much for the Orange to overcome. Syracuse (14-6, 4-3 Atlantic Coast) was forced to fight from behind the entire game and fell to the No. 14 Cardinals (15-5, 7-0), 71-53, at the Carrier Dome on Monday.



“We didn’t play well at all tonight,” Hillsman said. “… We can’t go into these games and not compete and tonight I don’t think we competed.”

A 3-pointer, a layup and a jumper in the lane put the Cardinals ahead 7-0 through the first three and a half minutes of the game. Syracuse didn’t make its first shot until just under four minutes in and only made two more the entire first period — shooting just over 21 percent.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, two Cardinals defenders swarmed SU guard Alexis Peterson, forcing her to call a timeout. Peterson shrugged her shoulders and shook her head as she walked toward the Orange bench.

Whether Syracuse was trying to drive to the basket, throw a pass into the paint or launch a shot from outside, Louisville was stifling the SU offense.

The Orange finished the opening quarter with more turnovers (seven) and more fouls (nine) than points (six).

“When a team is making shots and you’re not it’s kind of hard,” Peterson said.

Hillsman repeatedly threw his papers onto the scorer’s table in frustration after one of Syracuse’s 19 turnovers. Butler smacked her hands together after several of her 11 missed shots. Syracuse struggled and Louisville surged to a 29-point lead with 2:42 left in the second quarter.

“I definitely did not expect that,” Cardinals head coach Jeff Walz said of the huge lead. “… We started to try to go for the knockout punch.”

Louisville’s knockout attempt failed due to missed 3-pointers and allowed Syracuse to claw back to within 19 to end the half, despite SU shooting just 18.2 percent from the field.

Though the Orange fought back to within 11 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter, the once 29-point deficit was too heavy a burden to overcome. Peterson, who scored all 13 of her points in the second half, was the only SU player in double figures.

The Orange has dropped two games in a row to ranked opponents with both losses being by double-digits. Syracuse hasn’t led once in its last 80 minutes of play.

“I’m never going to be the victim. Never,” Hillsman said. “We’re wounded. If you find a lion and a lion’s wounded, what are you thinking? ‘It’s not going to be OK to stick my neck out there.’

“I’m good and (the players are) going to be good. We’re never going to be the victim. We ain’t feeling sorry for ourselves and nobody should. It’s our responsibility to get better.”





Top Stories