Digna Strautmane jabbed in toward the paint, flinching to the basket, before backpedaling to the corner. Simultaneously, Tiana Mangakahia beat her defender off the dribble, further drawing Strautmane’s defender into the paint. Left wide open, Strautmane corralled a pass from Mangakahia before knocking down her fourth 3-pointer of the game.

Eighteen seconds after Boston College cut Syracuse’s lead to 10, the lead increased again. An Eagles turnover followed on the ensuing possession, and they were forced to call a timeout. Whatever was left in BC’s tank was used to trim the Orange’s lead, and the deficit never dipped below double-digits again.

No. 17 Syracuse (22-7, 11-5 Atlantic Coast) capped off its seventh-straight regular season with at least 20 wins on Sunday with a 76-59 victory over Boston College (14-15, 3-13) in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Mangakahia, a game removed from tying her career-high of 44 points, scored a game-high 27 points, with 20 coming in the second half. Strautmane played 39 minutes and had her best scoring game since Jan. 17, tallying 16 points and nine rebounds to go along with a pair of assists.

“Digna was fantastic,” Hillsman said after the game to SU Athletics. “She played tough, she played inside, she scored at the rim, she scored facing the basket.”

Following their 62.1 percent shooting performance against Florida State on Thursday, the Orange were cold against the Eagles. A layup by Amaya Finklea-Guity was followed by five-straight SU misses, and halfway through the quarter, the score was 5-4. Mangakahia started the game with five-straight misses herself, more than she missed all game against FSU.

But with a 3-pointer that beat the first quarter buzzer, Mangakahia eclipsed the 1,000 career points mark in only her 60th game with Syracuse, becoming the fastest player in program history to reach the mark. The 3 tied the game at 15 heading into the second quarter.

Aside from the bright spot of Strautmane, SU’s offense continued to struggle. While the sophomore forward went 3-of-4 from the field in the second quarter and scored eight points, the rest of the Orange scored just seven on 3-of-12 shooting. The Eagles shot just slightly better but the halftime score was 30-29.

In the second half, Mangakahia took control of the game, just as she did against Florida State. She scored or assisted on 18 of SU’s 23 points in the third quarter, doing most of her damage inside and at the free throw line. Late in the period, she exhibited her chemistry with Finklea-Guity, finding her for back-to-back buckets in the paint off of pick-and-rolls. After not leading by more than six in the opening two quarters, Syracuse boosted its advantage to a game-high nine points on the second Finklea-Guity layup, which came off a no-look pass.

“(Mangakahia) puts the ball on the floor, she attacks, and she plays strong,” Hillsman said. “She had a fantastic second half, and I thought that was the key to the game.”

The run didn’t stop after the third quarter ended, as Mangakahia found Strautmane for a layup then converted one of her own on consecutive trips down the court. When Kiara Lewis plucked the ball off Makayla Dickens seven seconds later and finished a layup to put the Orange up 12, Boston College was forced to call a timeout.

Two 3-pointers by Taylor Ortlepp got the Eagles within 10 with just over three minutes left in the game but that was the closest they’d get the rest of the game. Strautmane hit a long ball, followed by a pull-up 3-pointer by Managakahia, who extended her second-half scoring total to 18 and put the Orange up 16. A layup by Gabrielle Cooper and two more free throws by Mangakahia capped off Syracuse’s scoring in the final two minutes.

“We’re very fortunate,” Hillsman said. “We said our number is 10 (conference wins) to be sure, and 11 is gravy…I push those kids hard to make them play as hard as they can play, to play up to their potential, even past that…at the end of the day, the reward is the winning.”

SU will be the No. 5 seed in next week’s ACC tournament in Greensboro and will start play on in the second round, on Thursday. The Orange will play the winner of the Wednesday game between North Carolina and Georgia Tech at 2 p.m. 

Published on March 3, 2019 at 5:09 pm

Contact Eric: [email protected] | @esblack34