Julie McBride had never missed a game or practice in her high school or college career – until last night that is. The senior guard sat out practice the previous couple days with a right-thigh injury and missed the Syracuse women’s basketball team’s 64-51 exhibition win over Syracuse AAU last night at Manley Field House.

McBride said she should return to practice in a couple days and will play in SU’s season opener at Binghamton on Nov. 22. McBride also said that if it were a regular-season game, she would have played last night.

In her absence, Krystalyn Ellerbe ran the point for most of the night.

‘Missing practice was frustrating, but the girls played great tonight,’ McBride said. ‘It was nice to get a win before the regular season so we can get used to winning. It was a little frustrating, but I’m glad we won. They didn’t need me.’

Ellerbe performed well in McBride’s absence. The junior scored 14 points to go along with a team-leading six assists and four steals. She played 34 minutes, also tops for the Orangewomen.

After struggling and failing to score in SU’s exhibition opener, Ellerbe may have played her way closer to the starting lineup, which head coach Keith Cieplicki has yet to finalize.

‘I just played,’ Ellerbe said. ‘Julie gets in foul trouble sometimes, so I have to be ready. It was just a learning experience, and coach had confidence in me.’

With McBride out, Cieplicki had the Orangewomen run more isolation sets to simplify the offense. He said once McBride comes back, he’ll mix things up more.

Ellerbe played her best on the defensive end. Last season, she earned SU’s Defensive Player of the Year award. It showed as she constantly pressured AAU’s ball-handlers into mistakes. Syracuse AAU committed 24 turnovers.

‘Defense is great,’ Ellerbe said. ‘I like defense, Coach loves defense and we just gotta pressure the ball for 40 minutes.’

Running the clock

In the second half, the SU offense ran at an extra-slow pace. The Orangewomen constantly ran the shot clock down, forcing Syracuse AAU to play defense for a full 35 seconds.

At times, the Orangewomen attempted wild shots, but for the most part, they found open looks with the clock winding down. Guard Rochelle Coleman was perhaps the biggest beneficiary, knocking down three second-half 3-pointers. Coleman hit five for the game. Syracuse hit 12 3-pointers total, six in each half.

Coleman and Cieplicki both said they planned to run down the clock in the second half.

‘You’re making the other team work hard on defense,’ Coleman said, ‘and you put a dagger in them when you make the shot at the end.’

Said Cieplicki: ‘Milking the shot clock, making teams guard, guard, guard and then sticking a 3, it’s demoralizing to play against. That’s going to be our trademark this year.’

On point

With Ellerbe showing she could handle the point guard duties, Cieplicki has a number of choices as the season approaches. In SU’s first exhibition game, both Ellerbe and McBride started at guard. The duo shared ball-handling responsibilities, with McBride getting a majority of the work.

Sophomore Marchele Campbell showed that she could also handle the ball, bringing it up when Ellerbe was on the bench. Cieplicki said he still doesn’t know his starting lineup and will look in practice to see who’s performing well.

In all likelihood, McBride, Coleman and center Chineze Nwagbo will start. Coleman, Nwagbo and Ellerbe were the only three players to start both exhibition games.

‘We’ll go look at the tape, but for this group, it’s early still,’ Cieplicki said. ‘We’ve got to see who brings it everyday in practice. If we’re going to win, it’s not about reputation or anything else. It’s who brings it every day. We’ve tried some different people, but we’ll see how the week goes.

‘(The point spot) really becomes matchups. If we have different combinations on the floor, (the point guard) might not be the second-best ball-handler on Syracuse. But it might be who’s going up against the worst defender on the other team. Don’t be surprised if it’s (center) Jill (Norton) or Chineze.’

This and That

Three former Orangewomen – Sue Ludwig, Danene Hopson and Paula Moore-Claude – made their returns to Manley for Syracuse AAU. Hopson and Moore-Claude each scored nine points, while Ludwig finished with four. Cieplicki said he enjoyed having the alums back and hopes to continue the tradition. … SU committed 16 turnovers but came away with 15 steals. … As a team, the Orangewomen shot 53 percent from 3-point range, but Norton struggled, shooting only 1-of-8 from long range. Cieplicki said he encourages his center to shoot from beyond the arc.

Published on November 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm