Heading into Tuesday night’s game at Rutgers, the Syracuse women’s basketball team ranked near the bottom in nearly every Big East statistical category – besides turnovers. The Orangewomen ranked second in the conference behind only Villanova in that category. SU also ranks fifth nationally in fewest turnovers, averaging 13.1.

Apparently, all that went out the window against the Scarlet Knights. SU turned the ball over 19 times, in addition to SU’s other shortcomings, en route to a 61-45 loss Tuesday night to Rutgers at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

‘They did two things really well,’ Syracuse head coach Keith Cieplicki said. ‘They really extended their defense and got after us, which we didn’t do a terrible job handling. But they really doubled us hard inside.’

According to Cieplicki, the double-downs inside are what doomed the Orangewomen. Center Chineze Nwagbo had one of her worst games of the year. The junior scored two points and committed six turnovers. For one of the first times all season, Nwagbo saw constant double-teams, which Cieplicki called a ‘breakthrough’ for Nwagbo because it shows teams are recognizing her improvement. Nwagbo victimized Rutgers for 12 points in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 14.

Cieplicki said he will work with Nwagbo in practice to help her beat the double-teams. He said against Rutgers, Nwagbo handled the defense well at times, kicking out to Krystalyn Ellerbe and Sarah Wegrzynowicz for open looks in the second half. Cieplicki said for her to be more effective, Nwagbo needs step off the lane and release from double-teams better. She also needs to make quicker moves and decisions with the ball.

Another area where Cieplicki knows the Orangewomen (6-13, 3-6 Big East) must improve is rebounding. The Scarlet Knights (13-7, 5-3 Big East) outrebounded SU, 40-30, and grabbed 17 offensive boards. Cieplicki said Syracuse actually outrebounded Rutgers by one in the first half, but the Scarlet Knights wore SU down after the half.

‘We are just so much smaller,’ Cieplicki said. ‘We’re trying to do the right things (with our technique), but we can’t change our lack of size. It’s an area, because we’re so undersized, that we’re going to struggle.

We’re going to have to manage it better if we hope to contend.’

One possibility is playing Nwagbo and center Jill Norton at the same time. Norton has seen limited playing time of late but saw 11 minutes of action against Rutgers. Cieplicki said at one point he played Nwagbo, Norton and Wegrzynowicz together to try to aid the rebounding problems. Despite playing the small forward position, Wegrzynowicz is SU’s second-tallest player at 6 feet 1 inch.

‘Having three of them in the box helped,’ Cieplicki said. ‘You can play size, but you still need the technique. I’m trying to become more critical of the team and our rebounding. I’ve been impressing on the ladies so much that we’ve got to rebound better if we’re going to win.’

Published on February 4, 2004 at 12:00 pm