2nd-straight 4th-quarter collapse leaves Syracuse stuck in the middle of the ACC
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Teisha Hyman lost the ball awkwardly as she tried to go right to left with a minute and-a-half left in the game.
Trailing 55-64, Syracuse was in desperate need of a basket, and as Dyaisha Fair faced a double team on the left wing, the Orange entrusted Hyman to create something out of nothing. Before she could make her move, Hyman’s control of the ball came to an abrupt start as she dribbled off the foot of Georgia Tech’s Bianca Jackson.
Kayla Blackshear dived on the loose ball and shoveled a quick pass to Tonie Morgan. Catching the ball in stride, Morgan won a foot race to the basket, against SU’s Asia Strong, to lay the ball up and in, increasing the GT lead to 11, and ultimately, icing the game.
In eerily similar fashion to its loss on Sunday to No. 7 Notre Dame at the JMA Wireless Dome, a fourth quarter breakdown against Georgia Tech cost Syracuse a potential fifth conference win of the season.
Through 30 minutes, SU were neck-and-neck with the Yellow Jackets behind outstanding offensive showings from both Fair and Hyman. From the jump, the Orange backcourt was dynamic and aggressive.
Halfway into the first quarter, with the score knotted at six apiece, Fair brought the ball up the court. Opting to go left, Fair stood, isolated with her defender just inside the 3-point line, positioned in the corner. Given too much space, she pulled up and cashed in the mid-range jumper.
Just a couple of plays later, Fair retreated toward the three-point arc before suddenly driving inside again. Bringing her defender into the middle of the paint, she gathered her dribble, took two steps and put up a tough, double-clutch, mid-range jumper that fell through the net. Syracuse led 10-6 with 2:46 to go in the opening period.
Hyman opened up her account with a couple of crafty looks inside to Kyra Wood before attacking the basket more as the game went on. With the Orange up four toward the end of the first half, Hyman drove on the slower Avyonce Carter, drawing contact before putting up a right-handed layup. The whistle sounded, Hyman’s basket counted and the combo guard headed to the charity stripe to convert the and-one opportunity.
Halfway through the third quarter, Morgan threw a wild pass, intended for Blackshear, but Fair picked it off. Hyman was already off to the races. Far ahead from the rest of the GT defense, Hyman collected Fair’s inch-perfect outlet pass and laid the ball in with her left hand to help extend Syracuse’s lead to six, 40-34.
Then, it all went wrong.
Like it had against the Fighting Irish, SU struggled against a talented backcourt that scored at will. Playing ND, the Orange had no answer against Olivia Miles or Dara Mabrey. Tonight, they failed to contain Morgan and Cameron Swartz.
Swartz, who finished the game with a game-high 17, showcased her slashing ability at the end of the first quarter. Coming off of a screen, she beat Fair going downhill and sped past SU’s Alaina Rice who came over to help. With Wood shielded away from her path down low, Swartz faced a relatively untouched path to two points and finished with her right hand on the left side to help Georgia Tech draw within one, early.
Off of a Syracuse turnover, Morgan received a lead pass and turned to find Georgia Woolley and Hyman in front of her. Nevertheless, the freshman guard drove inside. Stepping through the pair of SU teammates, Morgan got to the hole but contorted her body at the last second, sending a spinning reverse right-handed shot off the glass and in. Trotting back on defense, she smiled — an expression of pleasant surprise.
Although the Orange seemed to control the tempo and flow of the contest, they allowed several costly runs to let the Yellow Jackets gain momentum and keep the game close. To end the first quarter, Georgia Tech went on a 7-1 run to tie things up at 13. GT also went on runs of 9-2 and 14-7 to end the second and third periods, respectively.
With 6:40 left in the contest, both teams were knotted up at 51 apiece. Up until that point, Syracuse had opportunities missed around the basket and failed to cash in on chances at the charity stripe (SU ended up shooting 60% from the free-throw line).
Mere seconds later, Asia Strong fouled Swartz on a three-point attempt. Swartz would make all three free throws — the only points of the game for about two minutes before a media timeout halted open play.
Afterward, missed jumpers by both Hyman and Fair were countered by two straight made jumpers from GT’s Bianca Johnson, who finished the game with 11. A similar occurrence had happened against Notre Dame when two empty Syracuse possessions resulted in consecutive baskets from Miles.
After Miles hit two smooth turnaround shots, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack expressed her frustration after the game, saying that she had no issue with Syracuse’s inability to defend Miles at the moment, but was rather troubled that SU couldn’t convert on the offensive end. It didn’t help when Rice missed a go-ahead three with 2:13 to go.
Earlier in the season, the Orange had struggled with slow starts, often needing a strong third quarter to take control of the game. As of late, a new problem has presented itself. SU came into McCamish Pavilion tonight as one of the “Next Four Out” bubble teams according to ESPN. Now, the Orange continue their two-game round trip with another top 25 matchup against Duke on Sunday.
