Second-chance efforts, rebounding give Syracuse 1st ACC win

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Dyaisha Fair pulled the ball out toward midcourt before driving downhill again. Taking on Kaia Harrison, Fair crossed over from right to left, getting into the paint with ease. Leaning toward the basket and finishing with her right hand, Fair made the bucket as Harrison was whistled for the foul with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter. She converted the three-point play to put Syracuse up 55-53. 

A couple of plays later, Fair stole the ball from Wake’s Jewel Spear. Racing toward the opposite basket, she was fouled attempting another layup on the left-hand side. Heading to the charity stripe, Fair knocked down both free throws to record her 70th career 20-point performance. She would finish the game with a game-high 25.

A second-half comeback fueled by rebounding and second-chance efforts willed Syracuse (9-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) to a win in its first Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season — a 67-58 victory over Wake Forest (8-4, 0-2 ACC). The Demon Deacons looked dominant throughout the first 20 minutes, but by the final buzzer, Syracuse had doubled Wake Forest’s offensive rebounding total and had eight times more second-chance points in its sixth straight win. 

“Our bigs really did a tremendous job rebounding and our guards were able to have some fun,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “I thought this was a great team win. I think we’re still becoming and we’re still on our way.” 

To open up conference play, Legette-Jack opted to go with a guard-heavy lineup. Alaina Rice, who was favored earlier on in the season before Georgia Woolley came back from injury, stepped in, in place of Asia Strong. 

With Woolley matched up against Wake Forest’s Demeara Hinds, a size disadvantage for the Orange reared its ugly head early on. Before the midway point in the first quarter, Hinds led all scorers with five points coming from a three-point play and an easy layup inside. At the 2:20 mark in the first, Hinds tacked on two more inside to generate a six-point lead. 

In addition to Syracuse’s matchup struggles early on, the Orange suffered a stifled offense. Dyaisha Fair served as a lone bright spot, tallying two 3-pointers in the early going. Her first from the left wing was her 250th career make from range. After her second made 3, she drove hard inside before rising and making a two-pointer near the right elbow. 

In the second quarter, a Lewis make from the mid-range — her first basket of the game — ended a 1-for-7 scoring drought for Syracuse to draw within four of Wake Forest. 

Woolley poked the ball loose and Lewis gained possession after Wake Forest committed its eighth turnover of the game. The Orange raced down the court but didn’t find a transition bucket. Woolley held the ball at the top of the key and found Lewis in the left corner. Unable to produce anything in limited space, Lewis gave the ball back to Woolley. Glancing to her right, Woolley spotted a wide open Fair who had joined the attack. Catching a pass in stride, Fair showed no hesitation in pulling up from the right wing, canning the jumper. Her bucket gave Syracuse its first lead of the game, putting them up 30-29 with 1:10 remaining in the half. 

After a string of scoreless back-and-forths split between the two sides, the Demon Deacons regained the lead before the break. With time winding down, Jewel Spear came off a screen and hoisted from behind the arc. Her shot, just her first made basket from range of the half, dropped, to put Wake Forest up 32-30. 

Hinds finished with a team-high 14 points and was just four rebounds shy of a double-double. Harrison added 11 and Elise Williams produced nine. Olivia Summiel totaled a game-high 11 rebounds for Wake, tying Strong, who recorded a double-double of her own, tallying 10 points. 

Spear, who came into the game averaging 16.1 points managed just nine. The guard had trouble finding her rhythm until the very end as SU held her to just 3-13 shooting from the field. All of Spear’s makes came from deep. 

“It’s always an honor to play a good player so respect to her.” said Cheyenne McEvans, who served as Spear’s primary defender. “But we knew what we had to do coming into this game and we just locked in and followed through with that.” 

Midway through the third, Strong caught the ball in the right corner and attempted a 3 that trickled along the front rim before falling out. McEvans was in perfect position to clean up the miss. Rising above two Wake Forest defenders, McEvans caught and laid the ball up in one fluid motion, drawing contact in the process. Her putback fell through the hoop with 2:29 left in the third quarter. 

Following the McEvans make, a Spear miss from the left wing toward the dying embers of the third saw Wake Forest end the quarter shooting 1-10 from the field. After an intentional foul was called on Alexandria Scruggs, two SU free throws and a field goal helped the Orange chop away and reduce the lead to just one, trailing 44-43.

“I think our defense translated into helping us succeed on the offensive side of the ball,” Fair said. 

At the start of the fourth quarter, McEvans switched onto Harrison. Setting up in her stance, McEvans pressured Harrison into her fourth turnover of the game and dived on the floor, grabbing the loose ball. Immediately surrounded by two Demon Deacon players, McEvans shoveled the ball ahead of her to an unmarked Fair. With no one in front of her, Fair went the length of the court, laying the ball in to give Syracuse its biggest lead of the game. 

“I saw Dyaisha and I threw it to her and I knew she was going to go get it,” McEvans said. “So when I have the confidence in them that I have, it just leads me to take risks and take chances, dive onto the ground and get those loose balls because I know they got my back.”

The second intentional foul of the game for Wake Forest came with 4:52 remaining in the game. Committed by Williams, the foul stopped Teisha Hyman from progressing past the halfway mark and sent Woolley to the line who split two free throws, making the score 53-52. 

After Fair’s momentum-shifting three-point play with 2:30 left in the game, Spear danced on the right wing before stepping back to hit a three. Her shot from range put Wake Forest up by one, 56-55. Yet Spear’s ninth point of the game would be the last positive moment for the Demon Deacons on Sunday afternoon. 

On Wake Forest’s ensuing offensive possession, Spear coughed the ball up to Fair who was fouled going the other way. Fair hit two free throws to extend the Syracuse lead. Then, with 1:03 remaining in the game, Strong skied high to snatch down an offensive board and hit a layup to give SU its largest lead of the game, putting them out of WFU’s reach. 

“Our players are learning that we have to lock in on every possession,” Legette-Jack said. “We’ve been through way too much as a team for somebody to have a possession where their heart is bigger than ours.”