Women's Basketball

Syracuse can’t contain Georgia Tech in 82-64 loss

Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

Georgia Tech scored 54 points in the paint on Thursday night.

Quentin Hillsman fell behind the pack of Syracuse players and wiped his lips, then his neck, then his head. He adjusted the glasses that were knocked off as Gabrielle Cooper and Emily Engstler weaved around him, their white jerseys untucked, lightly jogging toward the locker room. 

It was only halftime, but Georgia Tech’s 13-point lead already threatened to put the game away. Hillsman knew that. The Orange’s offensive game plan had evaporated, and right behind it went their defensive one. Turnovers on the offensive end re-emerged, but this time an absence of defense compounded them. With one minute left in the half, Brooke Alexander stood and yelled as Digna Strautmane misjudged a Lotta-Maj Lahtinen drive on the right side. The final basket in a 69.2% shooting quarter for the Yellow Jackets sunk through the net as Alexander’s hand whipped through the air. She sat down and Strautmane’s head dropped.

“We didn’t guard the ball,” Cooper said. “We didn’t take the initiative to sit down and guard the ball.”

Georgia Tech’s lead only grew. The loose backline, the slow closeouts, the late switches — all issues that arose in SU’s earlier games — re-emerged. Each resulted in a step back, a breach of momentum Syracuse needed for even a chance to erase a deficit that kept climbing and climbing.

SU tried its patented zone, but abandoned that for man-to-man defense. Its press caused more harm than good. In Syracuse’s 82-64 loss to Georgia Tech in the Carrier Dome on Thursday night, the Yellow Jackets shot 56.7% from the field, most of their shots wide-open looks. A 30-point letup in the third quarter all but eliminated the Orange (8-8, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) against the Yellow Jackets (14-3, 5-1), sinking the group in need of a multi-game win streak toward the exact opposite.



“They were shooting layups at the rim, and they were finishing,” Cooper said. “They didn’t miss many shots.”

After the Orange had already finished their pregame warmup, Georgia Tech remained on the court and ran a passing drill with four lines around the perimeter. A fifth group stood under the basket and facilitated the passing in a congruent pattern. There wasn’t any shooting. There didn’t need to be. Quick ball movement would allow that to happen in the game.

It took the Yellow Jackets almost three minutes to open their scoring, but that was the longest scoring drought it’d have. Lorela Cubaj hit a jumper and Lahtinen sunk a 3-pointer. While Syracuse consistently dumped the ball into Amaya Finklea-Guity and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, the Yellow Jackets used balance to build their lead – all five GT starters scored in double figures.

The last time Syracuse allowed 30 points in a quarter, it gave Oregon too much space on the perimeter on Nov. 24. When combined with quick ball movement and a stagnant 2-3 zone, a once-close game escalated toward a blowout. 

Against Georgia Tech, though, it was the Orange backline. Each GT starter entered the contest within decimal points of averaging 10 points per game. Cutters through the middle of Syracuse’s zone press allowed consistent sets to emerge. Then, when Cubaj and other forwards backed down into the paint, lanes across the center opened up. It just took an extra pass to the block, and open layups followed against Finklea-Guity and Djaldi-Tabdi.  

“We let them sell us too deep, and I know that’s what stopped us from trying to make a play against them,” Finklea-Guity said.

As the game wore on, Hillsman emptied his bench. After Kiara Lewis’ jumper barely skimmed the rim, Hillsman pointed to graduate transfer Elemy Colome. On the first possession after subbing in for Cooper, Colome knocked a ball loose underneath the basket that sent Syracuse in transition. Whisper Fisher, who appeared in only 24 minutes previously, even threw off her warmup.

In the third quarter, when Syracuse’s deficit ballooned behind GT’s 30-point outburst, the subbing became more rapid, and the Georgia Tech points in the paint — which totaled 54 — became more frequent. 

“We can’t give up … a 30 point quarter anywhere — first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter — we shouldn’t be giving up 30 points,” Cooper said. “That’s not our mindset.”

Their mindset isn’t to allow that high shooting percentage, that obvious of driving lanes, to begin with. It’s to press and drop back into a zone when needed. That worked in wins against Houston, Florida State, and nearly worked in close losses to Louisville and West Virginia.

But Georgia Tech found a way to eliminate that. With the second quarter nearing its midway point. Teisha Hyman’s drove for a contested layup. That defined the SU offense: the Yellow Jacket’s man defense suffocated the guards, forcing rushed shots repeatedly. Hillsman sprinted past the sideline and grabbed his hand, pleading for a foul.

At the same time, though, Nerea Hermosa was elevating for a layup near the SU basket. She had beat Finklea-Guity to the left block, and Hillsman’s head turned as Hermosa’s shot hit the backboard.





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