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Syracuse women’s basketball starts its season with an afternoon matchup against unranked Stony Brook at the JMA Wireless Dome on Monday. The Orange are coming off an 11-18 year in which they lost six consecutive games to conclude the season. Following the conference tournament loss to Clemson, the Orange saw eight players depart from the program. 

With Felisha Legette-Jack’s hiring as head coach, replacing interim head coach Vonn Read, SU got nine players to transfer into the program. This included four of Legette-Jack’s former players from Buffalo — Dyaisha Fair, Georgia Woolley, Cheyenne McEvans and Saniaa Wilson.

Here’s what you need to know before Syracuse starts its season against Stony Brook: 

All-time series:

Syracuse leads 4-0.

Last time they played:

Two seasons ago, Quentin Hillsman was starting his 15th season with the Orange when they kicked off the 2020-21 season against the Seawolves. Syracuse never trailed in a 50-39 victory. Tiana Mangakahia, who returned to SU after her battle with cancer, led the Orange with a team-high 16 points and three assists.

The win over Stony Brook was also the debut for freshman center Kamilla Cardoso. In just 13 minutes of playing time, Cardoso scored 14 points and collected seven rebounds. Mangakahia also nabbed seven boards in the victory as a guard. It started the Orange on a four-game winning streak to start the season, resulting in a NCAA Tournament berth. 

The Seawolves report:

Under their first season with head coach Ashley Langford, the Seawolves went 23-6 and finished second in the America East conference. But Stony Brook’s season was cut short before the conference tournament began. Following the Seawolves’ decision to move to the Colonial Athletic Association, America East banned them from taking part in postseason play. 

Now as a member of the CAA, Stony Brook returns just one of its top four scorers from last year — guard Anastasia Warren. Still, the Seawolves are returning six players and brought in Southern Miss transfer Daishai Almond, who was one of the Conference USA’s top passers, finishing with 109 on the season.

Similar to Syracuse, Stony Brook doesn’t have any players taller than 6-foot-4. The Seawolves’ tallest players are Delaney Yarborough and Elizabeth Field, who are both 6-foot-3. Still, Stony Brook was the highest scoring offense in America East last season. 

How Syracuse beats Stony Brook:

With both teams having similar height in the front court, it will be on transfers like Asia Strong to notch rebounds and create a presence underneath. Strong flashed this ability in the exhibition win against Le Moyne, where she recorded 14 rebounds to go with her 14 points. 

While it was against a Division-II opponent, Strong will need to fill that down-low role for the Orange, a team that finished dead last in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

If SU can’t rely on rebounding, then it will have to heavily rely on the backcourt to score. Fair and Hyman averaged 23 and 16 points per game, respectively, a season ago. So the Orange will need to rely on midrange and outside shooting from their guards to stay in game if the Seawolves start to win the rebounding battle. 

Megan Thompson | Digital Design Director

Stat to know: 67.4 points per game

The Seawolves ban from playing in the conference tournament held them from showing off their top-ranked offense. Stony Brook averaged 67.4 points per game, which was six points per game better than the next best team. The Seawolves were tied with the Catamounts for the highest points per play average (0.82) according to Her Hoop Stats.

Of course, this mostly came against inferior America East opponents. But the Orange struggled to stop any opponents in the ACC last season, conceding the highest opponent field-goal percentage (45%) in the conference. In the exhibition against the Dolphins, Syracuse allowed 70 points, barely squeaking by. There will be some growing pains with this defense, but if Syracuse doesn’t want to fall behind in the game — or the season — quickly, then it has to tighten up against this high scoring offense. 

Player to watch: Anastasia Warren, guard, No. 4

Warren finished 17 games last season with at least 10 points. Her best performance came against Longwood last November where she went 5-of-8 from deep to finish with 29 points. While her field-goal percentage has dipped over the past three seasons, her scoring average has gone up. She finished on the All-Conference First Team and was the Most Outstanding Player of the American East tournament in 2021. Warren has also seen an increase in rebounds, averaging more in her junior season. 

Published on November 7, 2022 at 2:22 am

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