Lauren Kohn never even hesitated. The second the shot left her hand, the Syracuse women’s basketball team’s freshman guard charged to the hoop. With the Orangewomen trailing by three with less than 10 seconds left in regulation, Kohn’s shot clanged off the rim.

The Manley Field House crowd didn’t even get a chance to let out its displeasure. Kohn grabbed her own rebound out of midair and dished outside to Julie McBride, who calmly sank the game-tying 3-pointer. Syracuse went on to defeat Rutgers, 59-57, in overtime.

In a season of big accomplishments for Kohn, including winning this week’s Big East Freshman of the Week award, the offensive board and kick-out may have been her biggest play of the season.

‘Coach told us in the timeout as soon as the shot goes up, crash the boards and that’s what I did,’ Kohn said. ‘Luckily I got the rebound and kicked it out to Julie and she hit a clutch shot.’

Said Rutgers head coach Vivian Stringer: ‘You’ve got to wonder how the shooter got the rebound in the first place.’

Kohn’s clutch play continued into overtime. With the score tied at 53 with 2:51 remaining in the extra session, Kohn again found herself wide open in the corner. She took a pass from junior Sarah Wegrzynowicz and this time buried the 3 to give SU its first lead since the Orangewomen led 2-0 in the opening minutes. Kohn’s jumper was one of only two Syracuse field goals in overtime.

Though only a freshman, Kohn ranks second on the team in scoring behind McBride, averaging a little more than nine points per contest. Kohn only scored six points, all coming on 3-pointers, but her biggest presence was felt by the Orangewomen on the defensive end.

‘Defense was one thing I really wanted to improve on this game,’ Kohn said. ‘That was my mind-set throughout the whole game to play good defense, play good defense and your offense will come.’

Rebounding has been a struggle for the Orangewomen all season, and Kohn continued to come up huge on the boards in overtime. Though she grabbed only four boards, they all came after halftime. All six of Rutgers’ overtime points came on second chances, but Kohn prevented any further damage by pulling down two defensive boards while boxing out much larger Rutgers players.

In the second half when the Orangewomen switched to a box-and-one defense to contain RU’s Cappie Pondexter, Kohn often stepped up and aided Rochelle Coleman on a double-team. After torching SU for 12 first-half points, Pondexter managed only seven the rest of the way.

‘She was disappointed in her play defensively against St. John’s, and it’s something we’ve been talking to her about,’ SU head coach Keith Cieplicki said. ‘The other thing people don’t really talk about is she has to take the ball out of bounds all time and that’s a big responsibility for a first-year player. She’s doing all those things.

‘It’s like giving your car keys to somebody. You want to make sure it’s the right person and she does a good job with those things.’

Published on January 14, 2004 at 12:00 pm