More than five weeks ago, the Syracuse women’s basketball team hosted Notre Dame at Manley Field House. The future looked so much brighter for the Orangewomen back then. SU had just won three of its last four games in the Big East, including a 59-57 overtime upset victory over Rutgers. Syracuse sat at 3-1 in Big East play, in the upper echelon of the league standings.

The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, had lost three of their last five, mired in a streak of inconsistent play that included a victory over defending national champion Connecticut and a loss to Big East bottomfeeder Georgetown.

Times have certainly changed.

The Orangewomen ended up losing to the Fighting Irish, 64-35. The loss, in which Syracuse (6-19, 3-12 Big East) scored a season-low 35 points, sent SU into an 11-game losing streak that it has yet to break. Notre Dame’s win, though, went on to spark a five-game winning streak, and the Fighting Irish have lost only twice since.

The Orangewomen will look for a change of fortunes when they take on Notre Dame tonight at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind., at 7.

Despite the losing streak, SU head coach Keith Cieplicki feels his team has picked up its level of play. Syracuse is coming off a narrow, 59-52 loss to Boston College on Saturday. In that game, Cieplicki felt the Orangewomen gave one of their best efforts of the losing streak.

‘We had a lot of ball movement today,’ Cieplicki said Saturday. ‘I know a lot of it was Julie (McBride), but we did a better job. Just in terms of our rebounding and our individual defense, those are areas that, if we are going to be good, we have to be better at. So I’m real pleased with those areas.’

The rebounding that Cieplicki referred to could prove to be huge tonight. In the Jan. 21 meeting, the Fighting Irish (18-9, 11-4) dominated the boards and dictated play down low, coming up with a 47-26 edge on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds.

All season long, Cieplicki has said he knows that the Orangewomen can’t win if they don’t rebound better but also has acknowledged that SU’s lack of size makes it difficult to compete on the glass. Cieplicki used a larger lineup against the Eagles, often playing centers Chineze Nwagbo and Jill Norton together. The strategy worked, as Syracuse outrebounded BC, 30-27.

‘We just came out and boxed out well,’ Nwagbo said. ‘We attacked the boards, and that was something that’s in our game plan for all our games, whether we get outrebounded or not. We’re just supposed to come out and crash the boards on offense.’

In the first meeting, Nwagbo was the one SU player who played effectively, scoring 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Her performance was partially tarnished by an altercation with Notre Dame’s Crystal Erwin, who picked up a technical foul along with Nwagbo on the play. Cieplicki said he doesn’t expect any problems tonight as a result of the first altercation.

Despite Nwagbo’s success, Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said the Fighting Irish will focus their defensive efforts on McBride. SU’s lone senior shot just 2-for-15 from the floor in the Jan. 21 meeting. McGraw also said the Fighting Irish are ready if Syracuse attempts to slow the game down or speed it up, as Cieplicki has done sporadically of late.

‘We’re ready either way,’ McGraw said. ‘That’s the thing in this league. It really prepares you for the NCAA Tournament. Some teams slow it down like Villanova. A slow pace could be difficult coming off two teams like Miami and Rutgers that push it.’

Published on March 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm