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On Sunday against Miami, Syracuse finally captured its elusive conference victory. The Orange slowed the Hurricanes’ leading scorer Haley Cavinder to win 66-61, moving them to 1-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

But heading into its next contest — a road bout with Louisville — it was crucial for SU to build off the victory. With only 15 of 18 teams making the ACC Tournament in March, Syracuse must string together wins to earn a spot there. And prior to their matchup with Louisville, SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack was confident the Orange could prevail if they played consistently.

“We haven’t had our best efforts yet on a consistent basis as a team. We’re fighting hard to get those kind of wins,” Legette-Jack said Wednesday. “(If) we get those kind of wins, I guarantee you the score is going to say we were victorious.”

Yet against the Cardinals, Syracuse was as inconsistent as ever. In a back-and-forth affair, the Orange (7-10, 1-5 ACC) fell 72-62 to Louisville (13-5, 6-1 ACC) Thursday. Despite only trailing by three at halftime, SU was outscored 39-32 the rest of the way, leading to its defeat. Syracuse still sits in the bottom four ACC teams, in jeopardy of missing the postseason.

However, with just four minutes left, Syracuse made it a game. As Louisville went on a six-minute scoring drought, makes from Georgia Woolley and Izabel Varejão pushed SU’s deficit to just seven.

Two minutes later, Saniaa Wilson drained a floater to make it 65-60. But it was as close as SU would get.

Costly fouls by Woolley and Wilson sent Louisville to the free-throw line, where Olivia Cochran and Ja’Leah Williams sank all four tries. This put the game away for the Cardinals, crushing the Orange’s short-lived hopes.

However, early on, it looked like Louisville would be too much for SU. Syracuse started 0-for-3 from the field, allowing Louisville to garner a 10-3 lead. It eventually stretched its lead to 17-7 at the mid-quarter timeout after Jayda Curry’s 3 hit nylon.

In this stretch, Louisville had six different scorers, a representation of its season thus far. The Cardinals possess a balanced scoring attack, with no player averaging over 13 points per game but four over the nine-point threshold. Syracuse had no answer for their plethora of weapons to start.

Sophie Burrows kept Syracuse in the game, though. Despite her recent struggles — shooting under 30% against both Miami and SMU — the sophomore drained her second triple of the day with three minutes left in the first. She scored the Orange’s first 10 points, cutting Louisville’s advantage to 17-10.

“I think that the last game is a fluke of what (Burrows) is,” Legette-Jack said of Burrows’ struggles. “She didn’t have the best game, but she came back with a bigger purpose.”

Syracuse crept closer to end the first quarter after free throws from Kyra Wood and Burrows. The Cardinals led 21-15 after Wood shoveled the ball straight to Merissah Russell, leading to a buzzer-beating layup.

But Louisville went quiet after Russell’s make, scoring just two points in the first five minutes of the second. The Cardinals, who entered the game 207th in the country with a 30.2% 3-point percentage, failed to connect from distance. They started the game 1-of-7 after Nyla Harris misfired twice to begin the quarter.

The Orange knotted the score 23-23 midway through the second and took their first lead 26-25 via a Wood and-one layup. After notching a double-double in her first game back from injury against Miami, Wood again kept SU in the game, finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Though the Cardinals strung together an 8-0 run, capped by an Imari Berry triple, Syracuse still trailed 33-30 at halftime. The Orange weren’t playing the most consistent basketball — shooting 29% from 3 with 10 giveaways at the half — but still stuck with one of the ACC’s top teams through 20 minutes.

But similar to SU’s game against Florida State, where it completely collapsed after a 35-32 halftime lead, Syracuse failed to pull away. Despite Louisville’s porous first-half 3-point shooting, wide-open looks to begin the third led to success. Curry canned two 3s to put the Cardinals up 41-32 just two minutes in.

Though Wood bagged two layups immediately after, Curry hurt the Orange once more. Her third triple of the half pushed Louisville to a 46-36 advantage — its biggest lead since early in the first.

Then, Syracuse got worse news. Woolley fell hard on her leg, forcing her to briefly exit the court. The Cardinals took advantage of Woolley’s absence, as Louisville’s full-court pressure led to multiple early-possession turnovers.

This allowed the Cardinals to extend their lead to 54-39 when Williams bagged a layup after intercepting a pass from Dominique Camp, prompting Legette-Jack to call a timeout.

But Woolley re-entered after the break, instantly providing SU life. Syracuse’s leading scorer tacked on five quick points via a mid-range jumper and a 3. Burrows also drained her third triple off a dime from Olivia Schmitt — the freshman’s first action since SU defeated Dartmouth on Dec. 21.

This cut the Cardinals’ advantage to just 59-51 at the end of the third, continuing the back-and-forth flow of the contest.

However, Syracuse’s inconsistencies came back to haunt it in the fourth quarter. Woolley attempted two contested mid-range shots, and Louisville responded with four points in the paint to push its lead back to 65-54.

And from there, even though Syracuse moved within five points late, it only made one more shot in the final two-and-a-half minutes. The Orange failed to build off their win over Miami, putting them in a dangerous spot with only 12 games remaining.

“We’re just going to have to continue to get better incrementally as we go through January,” Legette-Jack said Wednesday.

Published on January 16, 2025 at 9:15 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99