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Georgia Woolley spun past Abbey Hsu and headed toward the basket. 

She navigated past Hannah Pratt and penetrated, gathering the ball close to her chest before extending forward to lay the ball in. Hsu fouled her on the attempt. 

Heading to the free-throw line, Woolley had achieved a new season-high 24 points. She cashed in from the free-throw line to bring Syracuse within two, 76-74 with 6:02 to play. 

Then, with under a minute to play, and following a Kitty Henderson lay-in, Woolley upped her total to 30 with a long-range triple to make it 83-81. 

Thirty seconds remained as Woolley drove inside again. Lobbing up a floater, she collided into Kaitlyn Davis and the two crashed to the floor. A charge was called and possession went the other way. SU’s chances of advancing started to dim. 

Not much separated Syracuse (20-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) and Columbia (26-5, 12-2, Ivy League) in their battle to reach the Great 8 of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Orange jumped out to an early first quarter lead but the Lions clawed back, keeping the contest close and led by four going into the final 10 minutes. In the end, an inability to convert on the offensive end and an onslaught of offensive firepower from Columbia’s key players ended SU’s season in a 88-82 Super 16 thriller. 

Dyaisha Fair brought the ball across the timeline and ended up on the right wing. She tested Hsu with a couple of crossovers. The possession prior, she had made a running floater over Hsu’s outstretched hand. Fair kept her dribble before performing a hesitation move, acting as if she would shoot. Hsu bit, and the lane opened up for Fair to drive to the basket, untouched, for an easy layup just under the halfway mark in the opening quarter. 

Coming out of timeout, Columbia ordered a switch on the defensive side. Now, Fair had Jaida Patrick in front of her. Receiving the ball at the top of the key, she again performed a slew of dribble moves before penetrating. Patrick stayed in front but Fair found a wide-open Asia Strong on the left wing. A kickout pass ensued and Strong nailed the open jumper for her first basket of the contest to put SU up 15-8. 

With a minute left in the first quarter, Hsu caught fire. Syracuse held an eight point cushion before her first three-pointer narrowed the margin to 19-14. Then, Hsu hit shots behind the arc in both the left and right corners, sandwiching another Fair layup to bring Columbia within one going into the second period. During the contest, Hsu became the second-leading scorer in program history and finished with a team-high 21 points. 

Woolley managed to get downhill, racing past Sienna Durr. As the help-side defender shifted over to stop Woolley’s progression, she dumped the ball off to Dariauna Lewis who laid the ball in, earning a three-point play opportunity in the process. Lewis made the free-throw to put Syracuse up by two with 6:08 remaining before halftime. A minute later, an almost identical move involving Teisha Hyman played out. Entering the paint from the right side of the floor, Hyman passed to a wide open Lewis for an uncontested layup. 

Nearing halftime, Columbia switched from a man-to-man defense into a 3-2 zone. With two guards and a forward spanning the perimeter, it attempted to trap Syracuse near the corners, forcing the Orange to shoot long, contested 3-pointers. It also kept SU away from playing through Lewis, who recorded her 13th double-double of the season. In the final quarter of play, Lewis notched her 293rd rebound this year, eclipsing head coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s single-season record during her playing days. 

The Lions retook the lead with just over two minutes to go in the second quarter. Then, off of an offensive rebound, Rice found a cutting Woolley who converted a lay-in through contact. Her basket returned a one possession lead to Syracuse. On the Orange’s next trip down, a scramble saw Woolley end up with the ball, isolated in the right corner. With time on the shot clock ticking down, she pump-faked to lose her defender before canning the 3-pointer. Her third consecutive bucket came after she jumped the passing lanes, stealing the ball in the backcourt before going coast-to-coast on a run-out score. 

Going into halftime, SU’s Super 16 matchup was the first time it really experienced trouble with an opponent in the tournament. The Orange’s first-round game against Kent State ended in blowout fashion, and in the next, Syracuse rode a 26-8 run to ease past Seton Hall. However, against Columbia, the Lions overcame an 0-8 shooting start from range to end the first half at a 44.1% clip from the field and trailed 45-41 before the start of the third quarter. 

Henderson lobbed up an inbounds pass to Davis in the paint. Davis immediately put up a floater, getting the shot off over Kyra Wood. Her attempt banked in as Wood fell into her, the 2-pointer giving Columbia a 51-45 lead. The Lions started off the penultimate period on a 14-3 run before a media timeout intervened. The sudden burst ended with Henderson slashing through the defense to make a high-arcing layup. Columbia led 55-48. Davis’ stellar play spilled from the third into the final quarter. Her 17 point, six rebound, six assist performance willed the Lions past any sort of answer the Orange proposed. 

After Fair registered her first points of the third quarter off of a mid-range shot, Syracuse set up in a soft full-court press. The defensive scheme lasted just three possessions as Columbia scored on every trip. After Hsu hit her fifth three of the night in transition, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack motioned for the Orange to switch up into a 1-2-2 zone. 

Fouled on a three-point shot from the left wing just two minutes into the final quarter, Fair knocked down all three shots at the charity stripe to put Syracuse within three, 71-68. She finished with 16 points in her 37th straight game recording a double-digit scoring total. A couple of possessions later, both sides traded three-pointers. First, Woolley peeled away from her defender to score from the top of the key, then, Hannah Pratt launched and hit from the left wing to give the Lions a 76-71 advantage. 

Hyman committed a costly charge with 4:57 remaining in the game and, immediately, Legette-Jack pulled her from the game. The two shared a brief moment on the sideline with Legette-Jack attempting to console her guard as Hyman wrestled away from her grip. Kennedi Perkins took her place. 

Empty offensive possessions followed for the Orange as Columbia slowly pulled away. Despite Woolley’s late game heroics, Syracuse ended its season shooting an abysmal 5-for-16 from the field and didn’t lead once in the fourth quarter after relinquishing control in the third. Despite a monumental shift from its 11-18 record the year before, SU came just short of progressing in Legette-Jack’s first year at the helm.

Published on March 24, 2023 at 9:16 pm

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff