Beating Miami, one of the top teams in the Big East is certainly on the minds of the Syracuse women’s basketball team.

But, then again, so is history.

With her first point tonight, when Syracuse hosts Miami at 7 in Manley Field House, point guard Julie McBride will pass Felisha Legette on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list. McBride scored 36 points in SU’s 78-71 loss to Seton Hall to tie Legette with 1,526 points. McBride is also SU’s all-time assist leader with 560 and is the first Big East player to top her school’s all-time scoring and assists lists.

As much as she will enjoy breaking the record, McBride would rather have a win.

‘That would be awesome because, I mean, I want to win,’ McBride said. ‘I know that we can win and we can beat teams that we should have beaten, and teams that played us know that. If we beat Miami and I score zero points, I’m not going to think about the record. It is a big deal, but it’s not a big deal to me right now.’

McBride said she doesn’t want the attention of breaking the record to take away anything from the game itself.

‘It’ll probably come early,’ McBride said. ‘It’s not a big deal. I don’t want the attention on me. I want the attention on the game and my teammates and the win.’

SU coach Keith Cieplicki also said he’d take a win over McBride breaking the record. But he was also realistic about the possibility of Syracuse winning without McBride playing an integral part.

‘That might not be possible,’ Cieplicki said. ‘I guess we’ll have to find a middle ground. It’d be nice if we could do both. There’s nothing wrong with spoiling ourselves, but I suspect we need her to score a few for us to win.’

Although McBride is coming off one of her best offensive performances of the season against Seton Hall, SU is prepared to abandon the style of play that allowed it to score 71 points.

That’s because as much as it worked against Seton Hall last Saturday, Syracuse (6-16, 3-9 Big East) knows it can’t keep up with Miami, one of the best transition offenses in the country.

‘We played fast against Seton Hall, and I think it was the right time,’ Cieplicki said. ‘But I’m not playing first team to 80 (points) against Miami. There’s no way. We have to get back to a little bit more slow down.’

McBride agreed that it was all about playing the right style against the right team.

‘We pick and choose (our style) depending upon how we feel, how our health feels and the team that we’re playing,’ McBride said. ‘You can’t run on some teams, and you can on other teams. Some teams choose to run all the time, and that’s fine. And they win or lose with that. But I think we’re trying to play a game with what situation is going to fit us the best.’

Another key remains on rebounding, as it’s plagued Syracuse all season. Cieplicki feels the rebounding and transition defense against Miami (18-4, 7-4 Big East) are the two biggest keys.

‘The desire to smash somebody – do our women have it?’ Cieplicki said. ‘And if they don’t have it, are they willing to do it? We’re learning from our failures. But until we learn enough to change the way we play in terms of our aggressiveness, then we won’t have the success that we’d like to have.’

Published on February 17, 2004 at 12:00 pm