CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — On Saturday, the Syracuse women’s basketball team wasn’t just playing to upset Boston College.

It was playing to salvage a season.

And now that they have, the Orangewomen can’t afford to slip up. They’ll need to carry their momentum into tonight’s game at Manley Field House against Seton Hall (8-6, 2-2 Big East) at 7.

‘(Beating BC) helps going into Seton Hall,’ SU guard Shannon Perry said.

The Orangewomen lost their first four Big East contests, crawled to a 5-10 record and took up residence in the conference basement.

Syracuse, which made the NCAA Tournament last year, appeared on the brink of finishing 13th or 14th in the Big East, which would cause SU to miss the conference tournament.

With a 76-71 upset win at Boston College, Syracuse gave new meaning to its season. Before the breakthrough victory, it appeared the Orangewomen would do little more than play out the string. Now that SU has shown it can beat a quality opponent, anything seems possible.

Still, if SU wants to achieve its stated goal of returning to the NCAA tourney, it has lots of work to do. Last season, 18 wins was good enough to earn a No. 10 seed in the tournament. To attain last year’s win total, the Orangewomen will need to win their remaining 11 games and mount a charge in the Big East Tournament.

Under pressure

For a team like Syracuse that has been plagued by turnovers, the last thing it wanted to see was BC point guards Brianne Stepherson and Amber Jacobs pressing Julie McBride so closely that they could’ve given her a dental exam.

To force turnovers — the Orangewomen have distributed more than a bakery — the BC point guards shadowed McBride immediately after she crossed halfcourt and pestered her while she attempted to set up the offense.

Untimely turnovers cost Syracuse in its first three Big East games. Against BC, though, McBride showed rock-solid poise, and Syracuse committed just 12 turnovers.

‘The biggest thing that we did was take care of the basketball,’ SU head coach Marianna Freeman said. ‘In a very intense basketball game, we ended up with 12 turnovers, four in the second half.’

If anything, the extra-pressure strategy backfired on Eagles coach Cathy Inglese. McBride blew by Jacobs and Stepherson for layups. Also, the defense led to Jacobs being called for back-to-back touch fouls on the perimeter with five minutes left in the first half. The fouls chased Jacobs to the bench, and Syracuse closed the half with a 12-5 run.

‘I wanted just to pressure (McBride) a little bit,’ Inglese said. ‘Stepherson has really quick hands, and I trust her to play really close defense.’

This and that

Boston College played without Kim Mackie, its 6-foot-3 starting power forward. Mackie was sidelined by a chronic form of influenza. ‘She was missed,’ Inglese said. … Starting SU center Jill Norton was held scoreless for the second consecutive game. In 16 minutes, she contributed five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Backup center Tierra Jackson scored four points and hauled down six boards in 24 minutes. … Freeman explained Krystalyn Ellerbe’s importance this way: ‘She came off the bench and scored six points. You look at the final score, and we won by five, so there you go.’

Published on January 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm