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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Late in the second quarter, Kiara Lewis carried the ball upcourt. With Tiana Mangakahia standing on the sidelines in sweatpants and a hoodie, Lewis was dictating the pace of the game for SU, reassuming the point guard role she played during Mangakahia’s absence in 2019.

She dribbled the ball in her right hand from the top of the arc. Amaya Finklea-Guity then cut along the baseline, uncovering after shaking off her defender. Lewis picked her head up, recognizing the run from her center. Lewis fired a swift pass, dissecting the Boston College zone. Finklea-Guity corralled it and converted the easy bucket.

The play was Mangakahia-esque from Lewis and a Syracuse team without its star point guard.

“I just picked moments when I saw that my teammates were open, running in transition, and I knew if we can score in transition it’ll be a little easier,” Lewis said postgame.

Lewis led SU on Thursday with 21 points in a 67-61 victory against the Eagles — the Orange’s third matchup against the team this season and their second in the past week. With a thin rotation due to Mangakahia’s lower body injury and with four others ruled out due to violation of team policy, The Orange advanced to an Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal against No. 4-seeded Florida State on Friday. Lewis who dictated the pace of the game, choosing moments to slow the game down and to speed it up.

Fresh off an All-ACC honorable mention, Lewis played all 40 minutes for head coach Quentin Hillsman’s team. Back in December, Lewis filled the same role against Boston College when Mangakahia missed her only other game of the season, also due to injury. That experience against the Eagles, as well as that of the entire 2019-20 season, were reasons Hillsman wasn’t worried.

“Kiki’s a big-time player,” Hillsman said of Lewis. “I knew that we were in good hands with the ball with her the majority of the game.”

In the fourth quarter, Lewis drove to the left side of the bucket, cutting into the lane. As she exploded, a Boston College defender tried to impede her progress, standing tall in the way. Lewis bullied through her, completing a 360-spin and tossing an underhanded effort as she lost her balance and began to fall toward the boundary. The defender landed flat on the ground and was called for a foul while the Syracuse bench exploded on the sideline in celebration.

The bucket counted, and Lewis sank her ensuing free throw — she finished 6-of-7 from the line.

Moments earlier, Lewis had scooped up a loose ball at midcourt, switched her dribble behind her back and executed a similar spin-move in the left lane for a layup. That play put Syracuse up by six in the fourth quarter, and the ensuing and-1 call stretched that lead to nine.

“Even when she’s scoring six points in a row, then she’ll find her other teammates and then go back to scoring six points in a row,” Emily Engstler said of Lewis postgame.

For the Orange, getting Lewis — and the other veteran players, such as Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, Engstler, Digna Strautmane and Finklea-Guity — rolling was crucial, Hillsman said. Lewis missed her first four shots from the field, and she said it took her a moment to adjust from her usual position on the wing this season to the top of the arc.

“It is a little more difficult because the defense is all looking at you at the top of the key,” Lewis said.

But she settled in once she hit a first-quarter 3-pointer moments after the 0-of-4 start. She was able to find “some type of groove,” she said.

From the sideline, Hillsman yelled instructions to Lewis. He dictated whether she should play quickly or chew the shot clock and let the Orange get into a halfcourt set, she said. But on Thursday afternoon, it was very clear that Hillsman wanted the ball in Lewis’ hands. In the dying seconds of the first quarter, she dribbled at midcourt until the clock hit five seconds before driving inside and taking a shot, which didn’t drop, as time expired. In the final minute and a half, with the Orange up five and needing to kill time, he directed Lewis to dribble the shot clock down to single digits before making a move, too.

To open the second half, she found another strong pass to a cutting Cardoso for two of the freshman’s four points on Thursday. On another occasion, she cut inside, running through heavy traffic as she tried to put up a shot. She drove her defender into the hardwood, and as Hillsman screamed “foul” from the sideline, the officials called Lewis for a foul.

Lewis finished with two fouls but spent most of the game driving to the bucket through multiple defenders and contact. When she did elect to drive herself, instead of passing, she had to fight for her buckets.

“She gets hacked all the time,” Engstler said of Lewis. “Good thing she gets some fouls, but she goes out really strong. She’s a strong guard.”

Despite the position shift and Mangakahia’s absence, Lewis said she stuck to the same plan she’s executed all year. In back-to-back games, she’s put up at least 20 points. The only difference was she tried to conserve energy — picking moments to play fast and others to slow down the pace of the game — because she knew she’d have to play the full 40 minutes, she said.

With Mangakahia’s status for Friday’s game still up in the air, Lewis might just be back at the helm against No. 4 Florida State, just like Dec. 20 against Boston College and all of last season. Now, with a game to settle in, she’ll be ready.

“Kiki is one of my favorite players to play with, to watch while playing with, to watch on TV,” Engstler said. “When she’s on, she’s on.”

Published on March 4, 2021 at 7:26 pm

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16