It was ugly, but the Syracuse women’s basketball team won an important slogfest Wednesday night, downing Louisville 53-45 in the Carrier Dome to get back to 6-6 in Big East Conference play.
The Orange shot only 32.7 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range, but both percentages were still better than the Cardinals, who made only 16 of 58 heaves from the floor (27.6 percent) and 5-of-26 from long range (19.2 percent).
"I was pleased that we got 58 shots up. Unfortunately we made only 16 of them," said Louisville coach Jeff Walz, whose team played for the national title only two years ago. "We probably could have just stopped at half court and made 16 shots."
Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman called the victory important because it put the Orange back in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid with only four regular-season Big East games remaining.
"Obviously, this win is huge, first because of beating a quality team like Louisville," Hillsman said. "But it’s also huge winning at home (with an upcoming stretch of road games looming)."
Syracuse was led by senior guard Erica Morrow, who made half of her 10 attempts and finished with a game-high 17 points. Sophomore center Kayla Alexander added 12 points and a healthy and energized Iasia Hemingway contributed nine points and nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end.
"I have been sick and I have been resting a lot, so I just came out there and gave my team my all," said Hemingway, a talented junior who transferred to SU from Georgia Tech last year. "We’re getting close to March and we want to get to the tournament, so I know that I have to put it all out there."
The game started slowly, with Louisville holding a 9-7 advantage after eight minutes of play. SU then seemed to take control with a 12-0 run, but the Cardinals caught fire in the last 1½ minutes before intermission when Monique Reid made a layup and Tia Gibbs swished back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 23-19 and take that momentum into the break.
In the second half, SU maintained a lead of up to seven points for nearly 15 minutes before Louisville fought back to tie it at 43-43 on a jumper by Gibbs and again at 45-45 on a shot by Becky Burke.
But the Orange essentially won the game on a possession that began with 2:33 remaining when SU gathered in three offensive rebounds off a missed field goal and two free throws and wound up with a 48-45 lead with 1:20 remaining. SU sealed the game when Morrow and sophomore Elashier "Lacey" Hall converted five of six free throws down the stretch.
"You can’t win if you give up offensive rebounds," Walz said. "Our goal was to hold them to 14 or less, and unfortunately they had 19 offensive rebounds and 21 second-chance points. Until we buy into the fact that you’ve got to rebound the basketball, we’re not going to have much success against a team like Syracuse, as big as they are."
Louisville also was hurt by the shooting of its two leading scorers, as Reid and freshman Shoni Schimmel – both averaging more than 15 points per game – made a combined 4 of 29 attempts and only 10 total points.
With the win, Syracuse improved to 18-7 overall, while Louisville dropped to 16-10 and 7-5 in the Big East.
The Orange will now have to play three of its remaining four league games on the road. SU travels to St. John’s (7-5) on Saturday and Cincinnati (1-11) on Tuesday before playing its home finale Feb. 26 against Providence (4-8). Syracuse will conclude the regular season Feb. 28 at Connecticut (12-0) against the two-time defending national champion Huskies, before heading back to Hartford for the Big East Tournament.
Hillsman has estimated that his team will need 10 total conference wins between regular-season play and the tournament to have a chance of getting an NCAA Tournament bid.
Chris Wagner
cwagner@syracuse.com