A comeback victory, seemingly in its grasp, was shot away by the Syracuse women’s basketball team Saturday night.

Everything was going for Syracuse. The Manley Field House crowd of 1,319 was in full support and SU’s second-straight Big East win seemed well within reach.

But St. John’s put an abrupt end to all that. The Red Storm went on a 29-9 game-ending run to defeat the Orangewomen, 78-61. Due to a number of players leaving the team and suspensions, Syracuse played with only seven players.

After trailing for most of the evening, the Orangewomen used a second-half run to take the lead – a lead that St. John’s made evaporate along with SU’s hopes of winning.

Instead of a 2-0 start in Big East play, the Orangewomen fell to 1-1. And instead of building off the momentum from its 71-51 victory over Pittsburgh last Wednesday, Syracuse was once again left to wonder ‘why?’

‘We did a decent job of weathering their early shooting success,’ Syracuse head coach Keith Cieplicki said. ‘We made some adjustments, got ourselves back in the game. But you know down the stretch they made shots and they made plays, and that was the difference.’

St. John’s (7-6, 1-1 Big East) took a 40-34 halftime lead thanks in large part to its outside shooting. The Red Storm was 11 of 22 from 3-point range, including a spectacular 6 of 8 from guard Kim MacMillan.

Syracuse had a hard time stopping MacMillan in the first half, as she scored 17 of her game-high 25 points.

On the other hand, Syracuse, which relies on its 3-point shooting as much as any other team, struggled throughout the game. The Orangewomen went 5 of 25, including 2-10 in the first half.

‘I think it was us,’ said Syracuse senior guard Julie McBride, who scored 15 points. ‘We have to be mentally prepared to hit down shots and we’re just not.’

But as much as they struggled, the Orangewomen were still able to overcome St. John’s in the second half and take the lead momentarily.

A big part of that was the play of junior center Chineze Nwagbo, who led Syracuse with 18 points and 12 rebounds – her second straight double-double.

‘We need an inside-outside game,’ McBride said. ‘Every game, you can’t rely on the 3-point shot. We need someone inside and Chineze was doing good in the first half and we just have to keep giving it to her and make her make plays.’

Nwagbo scored eight of her points during Syracuse’s 17-5 second half run that gave it a 54-51 lead with 10:26 remaining.

McBride routinely penetrated inside and then looked to Nwagbo to finish the play. Nwagbo used the set-ups to establish a consistent inside presence that even surprised St. John’s.

‘We were trying to stop their shooters.’ MacMillan said. ‘We knew that they were primarily a 3-point shooting team and they actually got a lot of inside stuff today.’

Ultimately, though, Syracuse couldn’t put away the game.

After grabbing the 54-51 lead, the Orangewomen had multiple chances to add to its lead. But several missed put-backs and poor inside shooting haunted Syracuse, which shot 12 of 34 in the paint.

‘We don’t want to be a team that beats ourselves,’ Cieplicki said. ‘Whether it’s just an unforced turnover, missed block-out, foul with one on the shot clock – plays that we know don’t help our chances to win. We had too many breakdowns tonight. That’s where we have to improve.’

Published on January 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm