Recently Rochelle Coleman’s game resembles the stock market — up one day, down the next.

Following a 75-46 win over St. John’s in which the sophomore guard scored a career-high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, Coleman collected seven points and shot 3 of 12 in SU’s 82-63 loss to Boston College.

Coleman showed a measurable drop in her 3-point shot. After shooting 7 of 13 against SJU, Coleman connected just 1 of 6 times from behind the arc Saturday. A number of her shots appeared forced, and her 3-point attempt with 6:30 remaining in the game failed to draw iron.

Coleman, though, insisted she wasn’t pressing.

‘I don’t think I was forcing it,’ Coleman said. ‘I come to play every game and if my shot falls, it does. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean I’m forcing my shot. I just wasn’t hitting today.’

One reason for the shooting struggles may have been poor health. Coleman sat on the sideline with ice placed on her left ankle during practice Friday after aggravating an injury she suffered earlier in the week. But she refused to use it as a defense.

‘It’s not an excuse,’ said Coleman, who didn’t wear a supportive brace in the game. ‘People get hurt all the time. Basketball is a contact sport and that’s going to happen, but that doesn’t mean you just can’t come out and play.’

Krystal clear

When Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman sent guard Shannon Perry to the bench with 13:01 left and SU down 23, backup Krystalyn Ellerbe entered the game, ready for garbage time.

But the sophomore’s 13 minutes following the substitution sparked SU and the 1,398 in attendance.

Ellerbe promptly drove strongly to the hole for a layup, followed by a steal and another layup. Overall, she shot 4 of 5 for eight points.

‘She came in, played great defense, made big shots for us, had a big steal and pretty much re-ignited us,’ Freeman said.

The strong performance mirrors her contribution in SU’s Jan. 18 win against Boston College, 76-61. She scored six points in SU’s five-point win while replacing Perry, who sat with foul trouble.

‘It’s kind of coincidental,’ Freeman said, ‘that it was also at Boston College that she came out and scored six big points for us which happened to be the points to help us win the basketball game at their place. So it seems that Krystalyn loves to play against Boston College.’

Sweat the small stuff

Aside from experimenting with a man-to-man defense late in the second half, Freeman also displayed a smaller, quicker lineup. The group featured 5-foot-10 April Jean at center, with Perry and Coleman at forward.

But after helping SU come back from a nine point deficit to win, 62-59, at Miami earlier in the season, the lineup’s play leveled out, outscoring BC by just one over a five-minute span.

‘It’s a pretty quick lineup,’ Freeman said. ‘We have scorers out there on the floor. And I just thought it was a way to get back into the basketball game.’

‘It’s nothing major, not a big change,’ Jean said. ‘I’m battling down there with 6-foot girls every night. So it’s no different.’

This and that

Julie McBride was honored before the game for becoming just the 15th player in SU history to score 1,000 points. The feat occurred Jan. 21 in a 48-44 loss to Seton Hall….Boston College’s first-half shooting (14 of 29) was exactly the same as Syracuse’s first-half shooting the first time the two teams met….Forward Sarah Wegrzynowicz was not present at the game because of ‘family reasons,’ Freeman said… The loss drops SU to 0-4 at home in conference, while BC is 4-0 in conference road games.

Published on February 2, 2003 at 12:00 pm