There’s a new name at the top of the Syracuse women’s basketball career scoring list as of Tuesday. Julie McBride’s name has shifted down a spot, as Nicole Michael carved her place in program history last night and climbed to the top of the list.

Though McBride may be in Turkey these days, that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t keep up with the team. She will be paying special attention to SU when she wakes up an ocean removed from her former home this morning, with one player’s box score in particular – Michael’s – of keen interest.

With 27 points in the Orange’s 87-80 overtime win at Pittsburgh Tuesday night, Michael broke McBride’s scoring record of 1,605 points that had stood since 2004. Michael now has 1,614 points in her career.

Now in her fourth season in Turkey, McBride is suiting up this year for Pankup Ted Kayseri Kolejspor, a team in the city of Kayseri. And, though she’s never spoken with Michael, she’s seen enough to be delighted with the player who broke her record.

‘I always hoped it would be broken by someone who demonstrated hard work and dedication to the program,’ McBride wrote in an e-mail to The Daily Orange. ‘Because that is why I broke all the records I did.’

Much like Michael has said publicly about the pursuit of the record recently, the last thing on McBride’s mind was the chase for the record.

In fact, she wrote, when she came to Syracuse, her mind was set on leaving the school with one record – the assists record, the one most beloved to her as a point guard. And she left SU the record-holder in that category as well, finishing her career with 574 assists.

‘There was only one record that I was focused on since I was a freshman, and that was the assist record,’ McBride said. ‘My assistant coach, Michelle Bento-Jackson, ripped out the all-time assist leader in the program book, crossed out who was No. 1 and put ‘Julie McBride.’ That was the only record I was focused on, because I was the point guard.’

McBride didn’t have to wait long in a game for her scoring record. She hit her first 3-point attempt in a home game against then-Big East foe Miami to make her Syracuse’s all-time leading scorer.

Like Michael, she hoped to break the record at home in front of her fans and family, even going so far as to not shoot the game before at Seton Hall when she heard about the record from her teammates.

Involved in a back-and-forth battle, Michael didn’t even have the luxury to think about waiting, setting the mark on a free throw with 1:37 remaining and pulling the Orange within two.

‘One of my teammates came in the game and told me I needed to score one more time to break the record,’ McBride said of the game at Seton Hall. ‘And I remember feeling bad because I wasn’t in Manley (Field House) in front of my fans and family, so I didn’t shoot the rest of the game. It didn’t matter because we were losing by about 15 anyway.’

While reflecting on her own pursuit of the record, McBride didn’t lament that she’s been bumped from the top spot. In fact, she couldn’t ask for a better type of player to supplant her on the list.

‘I am very happy for Nicole,’ McBride said. ‘Records are meant to be broken, and anyone that breaks a significant record like the scoring record just shows the hard work that player has put in and shows the love of the game that they have.

‘Because that is what we play for and coach for, right? The love of the game.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on February 2, 2010 at 12:00 pm