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After drawing another Syracuse foul, Hailey Van Lith nailed two free throws to establish Louisville’s first double-digit lead of the night.

As the Cardinals moved up court, SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack looked to call for a timeout as the Orange had yet to score a basket three minutes into the second half.

But Legette-Jack didn’t receive a timeout call from the officials. Trying to draw their attention, Legette-Jack anxiously moved past the coach’s line and stood at the top of the Cardinals’ logo at half-court, leading to a technical foul call from the officials.

The Syracuse head coach furiously pleaded her case and tried to explain that she was signaling for timeout as Van Lith knocked down two more free throws to increase Louisville’s lead to 12 points.

Legette-Jack’s technical highlighted a second half where Syracuse (10-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) struggled to maintain its success from the first quarter in a 86-77 loss to Louisville (11-4, 2-0 Atlantic Coast). So far this season, the Orange have typically started slow and then heated up in the second half.

Against the Cardinals though, it was SU’s first half that kept the game close in the early going. Led by Teisha Hyman, who scored a season-best 27 points, a lackluster third-quarter limited the Orange’s ability to mount a comeback. Hyman impressed with long-range shots, but the rest of her team only made four more field goals than the combo guard combined.

The first 10 minutes of the game saw the Orange and Cardinals both go on scoring runs immediately. To start the game, Dyaisha Fair airballed a long jumper, but Georgia Woolley picked up the rebound. Woolley then passed to Dariauna Lewis under the rim for an easy layup — Syracuse’s first score of the night. On the next possession, Alaina Rice nailed an open 3-pointer from the left corner to make the score 5-0.

However, Louisville immediately went on an 8-0 run as Van Lith helped the Cardinals get on the board with a layup. After Van Lith drew a foul on the other end, Olivia Cochran made a driving layup. Van Lith then scored on another close-range shot to give the Cardinals their first lead.

With Fair going scoreless in the first quarter, SU leaned on Hyman in the opening period. Over the first 10 minutes of play, Hyman knocked down three long 2-pointers, with all of the shots coming from behind the foul line but before the 3-point line. On the possession after making her third long jumper, she knocked down her first 3-pointer of the game.

In the second quarter, Hyman went scoreless but Fair finally got on the board with five points. Lewis ended the first half just a rebound away from recording a double-double within 20 minutes.

During a 90-second stretch toward the dying embers of the first half, the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run. After Lewis banked in a layup, Louisville scored on its ensuing possession with Merissah Russell picking up her third offensive rebound and setting up Morgan Jones for two points. A minute later, after Fair converted on two straight possessions, Cochran nailed a mid-range jumper from the left to give the Cardinals a 6-point advantage going into the break.

The Orange’s success from long range began to fade away in the second frame, shooting 27% from the field as Fair finished with just five points.

Van Lith scored a fadeaway jumper to start the second half scoring. Less than a minute later, she threw a long transition pass to Jones who drew a foul against Rice. After Legette-Jack’s technical, Chrislyn Carr nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to make the score 53-36. Even though Hyman banked in a 3-point shot from the top of the key to shrink the deficit, Carr made another 3, this time from the right wing. Louisville’s lead was now 18 points.

Fair ended her second-half scoring drought on a quick transition layup. Woolley would make another layup to create a snappy 6-0 scoring burst for the Orange, but Jones scored on a layup off a missed 3-pointer from Carr. In the final minute of the third quarter, Liz Dixon converted a jumper from the right side to make the score 69-53. While the Orange had made half of their shots in the quarter (7-of-14), the Cardinals scored at will in the third frame.

On Syracuse’s first possession of the fourth quarter, Woolley got called for a charging foul, eventually leading to Jones increasing Louisville’s point total to 70. The weaving of the Orange offense and reliance on long-range shots didn’t lead to success. Norika Konno dished a pass to Russell, who made her first 3-pointer of the game.

Fair frantically pushed the pace, drawing fouls and creating open shots for her teammates in the paint. But Louisville hummed along as Van Lith scored on a runner following a media timeout. Minutes later, the Cardinals’ bench urged Nyla Harris to pass to Carr, who then recorded her fourth 3-pointer of the night to make the score 84-67.

Louisville continued to heat up, shooting 50% from the field in the final quarter. When Van Lith missed a 3-pointer from the left wing with less than three minutes remaining, Cochran collected her seventh board of the game and put in another layup, firing up the crowd some more and resulting in Syracuse’s eventual first defeat in conference play.

Published on December 29, 2022 at 10:10 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com