Syracuse Uses Strong Second Half Performance to Defeat Boston College, 64-46

By Julia Morris

Bria Day had only one basket for the Syracuse Orange in its game against Boston College on Sunday afternoon – but she made it count.  Filling in as a starter for her sister Briana Day, who injured her ankle in the Orange’s last game against Wake Forest, Bria took a shot beneath Syracuse’s basket in the second half.  Although it was quickly swatted away by BC’s Karima Gabriel, Day was not discouraged – she grabbed the ball following the block and put it back in, despite being fouled and falling to her knees after the shot. 

“I was just trying to help my team as much as possible,” Day said.  “Thinking just be smart, don’t do anything crazy and just make the easy play.”

The Syracuse bench erupted and the basket put the Orange up 37-29 with 14:50 left in the game.  From there, the momentum shifted in favor of Syracuse and the Orange (13-5, 3-2 ACC) would never look back, defeating the Eagles (8-10, 0-3 ACC) on their home court at Conte Forum by a final score of 64-46.

Despite Morrison’s Hot Start, Eagles Keep it Close in the First Half

While Day’s basket was the start of a dominant offensive performance by the Orange in the second half, the first half was a different story. The teams battled back and forth and each seemed to answer every time the other scored, leading to a total of six ties and five lead changes. Both teams also struggled to maintain possession, with five combined turnovers in the first four minutes of play.

Nicole Boudreau, who is averaging 12 points a game for the Eagles this season, hit a three-pointer with 13:58 remaining in the first half to give BC an early 12-9 lead.  However, Maggie Morrison entered the game for the Orange a little over a minute later and provided a spark for the Syracuse offense.  She launched her first three-pointer and it banked in off the glass to tie the game at 14 with 10:58 to go.  

“When it banked in you just have to smile,” Morrison said. “It was a momentum builder for myself knowing that even though I banked it, my first one went in which is always good.”

Morrison would take that momentum and hit her next two three’s.  She led all scorers with nine points at the end of the first half.  However, despite her hot shooting, Syracuse led by only two points at the break.  BC was able to stay in the game because of its strong rebounding - the Eagles got 28 rebounds in the first half compared to the Orange’s 16. 

“When you’re playing a three-point shooting team there’s going to be a lot of long rebounds so we just talked about putting more effort into that side of the floor,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. 

Orange Dominates Offensively and on the Glass in the Second Half  

And the Orange did make an improved effort in the second half, both on the rebounding end and offensively, scoring 40 second-half points and out-rebounding the Eagles 28-21. Day led the way for the Orange with 11 total rebounds.

“I thought Bria was tremendous,” Coach Hillsman said.  “I think it was the best game that she has had here in her career and hopefully she can continue to play tough for us.”

Right before Day hit her big second chance basket, Taylor Ford made a critical three-point play down low. With 16:30 to go in the game Ford, who scored 13 of her team-leading 15 points in the second half, got fouled on a layup.  She made the basket and her free throw, putting the Orange up 33-26.  At the time, the six-point lead was the largest lead of the game for the Orange.

“I was being aggressive and every time the guards passed it off to me I made sure to finish the layups,” Ford said.

Syracuse’s offense continued to roll after that.  Brianna Butler, who struggled early on and made only one of her first nine field goals, connected from behind the arc with 13:40 to go to put Syracuse up by 13 points, 42-29.  Then with 8:17 left in the game, Butler connected for another three, putting Syracuse up 52-37.

 

“I thought she made some timely threes for us and it got us up a little bit and as long as we can continue getting her to take good shots we’re going to be okay,” Hillsman said.

While Butler made some big shots from behind the arc, the Eagles’ Ashley Kelsick made the final three-pointer of the game as time was winding down.  Kelsick scored 11 points and led the Eagles in scoring along with Emilee Daley, who had 11 points of her own.

 “We were able to use Emilee in the high post and get her some nice looks… and we were able to penetrate their zone a little bit and that’s where she got a couple of nice jump shots,” BC coach Erik Johnson said.

Despite Daley's offensive contributions, BC could not overcome the Orange’s strong second half efforts.  The Eagles also turned the ball over a total of 23 times during the game.  Those mistakes combined with Syracuse's second half scoring and rebounding were the difference maker in the game.

Next Up

Syracuse will look to build on its three-game win streak when the team travels to Pittsburgh on Thursday to take on the Panthers. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Boston College is still searching for its first ACC win of the year.  The Eagles will host Duke on Thursday. Tip off is at 7 p.m.