Syracuse women’s basketball fans didn’t have to wait long for senior point guard Julie McBride to break the school’s all-time scoring record.

McBride drained a 3-pointer just 33 seconds into play against Miami last night at Manley Field House, breaking the 15-year-old mark with SU’s first basket of the night. She entered the game tied at 1,526 points with Felisha Legette-Jack, but quickly surpassed it, scoring 31 points as SU lost, 85-65, to Miami.

‘It’s a nice accomplishment,’ McBride said. ‘But right now it’s not.’

McBride instead wanted to focus on the team result – SU’s ninth straight loss – but her accomplishments speak for themselves. She now holds four major Syracuse records: points, assists, free throws and 3-pointers.

‘I can appreciate the work that she’s done,’ head coach Keith Cieplicki said. ‘If somebody’s going to break a record or hold a record, you want it to be someone that loves the game. I’m happy for Julie.’

McBride’s the first player in Big East history to hold a school record in both scoring and assists. Her next 3-pointer will break the tie she set last night with Jamie James, who had 226 for her career.

‘Records are put out there to broken,’ Legette said, now the head coach at Hofstra University. ‘There’s more amazing things you could do. It’s an honor that Julie’s the one breaking my record.’

McBride wasted no time putting it away. She said she wanted to try and get it out of the way early because before the game, everybody had congratulated her before she had toppled Legette-Jack. She felt once she did get it, she could concentrate solely on getting a win.

For a player that is now Syracuse’s all-time 3-point shooter, it was fitting that she broke it from beyond the arc.

After winning the opening tip-off, Miami missed its first shot of the game. McBride grabbed the rebound just 20 seconds into play and pushed it up the court all the way to the basket, tossing a soft lay-up that seemed poised to break the record, until it rolled out.

Just a few moments later, though, she finally got it. Syracuse junior center Chineze Nwagbo tipped the rebound back to McBride, who was waiting unguarded in the right corner for the shot that never seemed in doubt.

There was no fanfare after the shot. Play wasn’t stopped nor did it seem that McBride even acknowledged that she had broken the mark. There was just a healthy amount of applause from the 1,017 in attendance.

But a little less than four minutes later, when the first official timeout came, an announcement on the public address system acknowledged what McBride had done. The crowd then stood on its feet for a standing ovation that lasted the entire timeout.

Marianna Freeman, the woman who coached McBride the past three seasons at Syracuse, heaped praise on her former point guard, as she watched from her customary seat about five rows behind the SU bench.

‘Felicia was a great player and coach here,’ Freeman said. ‘It puts (Julie) in great company. It puts her in the company of some of the great players in SU history.’

Miami, whose players were unaware of the mark while the coaching staff was not, was more concerned with the threat that McBride posed to the outcome of the game.

‘Julie McBride is just outstanding,’ Miami head coach Ferne Labati said. ‘We tried different things. She just really lights it up.’

Like no one else in Syracuse history.

Published on February 18, 2004 at 12:00 pm