The Syracuse women’s basketball team had just seen how dramatically free throws could shift the balance of a game.

Fouled on a 3-point attempt, Notre Dame’s Brittany Mallory went to the line and swished all three of hers.

On the very next possession, the Orange had a chance to get two of those points back. But with a chance to pull her team within two points of the No. 3 team in the nation, SU forward Vionca Murray missed on both attempts.

Murray’s two errant freebies exposed a recurring problem for the Orange. When all was said and done, SU couldn’t overcome the one thing that has plagued it all season – free-throw shooting. Those same blunders from the line ultimately were the difference in Syracuse’s 74-73 loss to the Fighting Irish Saturday.

‘You look at how many free throws we missed and I missed,’ Murray said. ‘We could have won this game.’

More free-throw sessions at practice surely await a team that, before Saturday’s game, sat 11th in the Big East at 68 percent from the line. But SU shot only 62 percent from the charity stripe in Saturday’s game.

The losses, close losses, keep piling up for the Orange. It lost by two to Georgetown. By two at Providence. By three last Wednesday against St. John’s.

And finally, by just one against a No. 3 Notre Dame team that would’ve given head coach Quentin Hillsman a marquee win to place on his team’s tournament resume.

Hillsman knows that free throws can be a deciding factor in close games. And he knows that in those tight games, his team has been on the wrong end of the free-throw situation.

‘Our free throws were the difference in the game,’ Hillsman said. ‘We make seven more of those free throws and it’s a different ballgame. We hit some of those down the stretch and it’s a different ballgame.’

The Orange had a mission in its game plan and executed it from the beginning. Pound the ball down inside. Drive to the lane. Take good, easy shots in the paint.

And SU dominated in the paint, outscoring Notre Dame 38-20 there. With its game plan, Syracuse was able to get the ball down low to Murray, Juanita Ward and Nicole Michael.

But with that dominance inside the paint also came fouls. Lots of fouls. The Fighting Irish were whistled for 27 personal fouls in all, sending the Orange to the line an eye-popping 37 times.

SU just couldn’t convert at the line.

‘I think the game would’ve been a whole lot different (if we had made more free throws),’ said Ward, who went 6-of-9 from the line Saturday. ‘We just weren’t knocking them down. I think people stepped up at times, but we just missed the opportunity.’

Murray’s missed shots were just two of many crucial Orange misses from the stripe down the stretch. Ward missed 1-of-2 with a chance to get SU within one. Murray was off earlier on a potential 3-point play that could’ve tied the game at 68. And Michael hit the front rim with a chance to tie the game at 71 with 1:11 remaining.

Perhaps the best judge of a team’s talent is from the outside looking in. And Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw was wowed by SU’s play – minus the two key elements of turnovers and free-throw shooting.

‘That’s a great team,’ McGraw said. ‘They really are talented. I really think, despite the turnovers and free-throw shooting, they’re a great team.’

For Hillsman and the Orange, it’s back to work to get ready for the team’s next game at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. In those practices, free throws will surely be a focus. Hillsman’s team missed a golden opportunity on Saturday, and he realizes it.

‘A few plays here, a few plays there do matter,’ Hillsman said. ‘When we play top teams in the country, we cannot let these opportunities get away.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on January 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm