Kayla Alexander walked off the court for the final time as Syracuse’s all-time leading scorer, her eyes gazing downward and her body stiff.

She walked away from the game she had just dominated – per norm – but that was the last place Alexander wanted to go.

It was over. Her storied four-year career had come to a close. And much earlier than she expected or desired.

No. 7-seed Syracuse fell to No. 10-seed Creighton 61-56 at the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday afternoon. The loss crudely – and, in its eyes prematurely – bumped the Orange out of a tournament it wanted to leave a dent in, marking the final game for Alexander, Elashier Hall and Carmen Tyson-Thomas. Alexander finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, but Creighton’s surprising edge on the boards and timely 3-point shooting crushed the Orange’s dreams.

“Honestly, right now I’m kind of in shock,” Alexander told reporters after the game.  “This wasn’t the way we thought, or planned, or imagined this would end.”

In the locker room prior to tip-off, SU head coach Quentin Hillsman warned his team of its eventual destiny.

Creighton came into the game tied for first in the nation with 9.3 3-pointers per game and Hillsman knew the Bluejays would be far from an easy out.

“All right guys, they are not scared of you,” Hillsman said. “They think they are supposed to win this game. Let’s go.”

That’s exactly what happened. Creighton wasn’t scared. Far from it.

On their very first possession, the Bluejays took four shots, two of them 3s. The first minute set the tone for the rest of the game. Creighton would shoot 3s repeatedly and rebound relentlessly.

The Orange averaged 44 rebounds per game during the season while the Bluejays snagged just 35.3 per contest. Rebounding should have been easy for SU. But on Saturday, nearly the exact opposite stats emerged as the Bluejays outrebounded Syracuse, 43-35.

“They did a very good job of getting offensive rebounds and really spreading the floor out,” Hillsman said. “They outrebounded us. And that’s our strength.”

In the first half, Mckenzie Fujan single-handedly kept the Bluejays in the game. She notched her team’s first 11 points and drilled five 3-pointers in the first half, the fifth of which gave Creighton its first lead, 21-20, at the 2:32 mark.

Fujan, who finished with a career-high 24 points, pumped her fist as she backpedaled downcourt. The sharpshooter scored 17 of her team’s 24 points in the first half, nailing 6-of-7 shots while her teammates went an incredibly inefficient 2-for-23 from the field.

Hillsman was right. With Fujan sizzling the way she was and the Bluejays grabbing rebounds the way they weren’t supposed to, Creighton wasn’t going away easily.

In the second half, Creighton’s other shooters came alive and provided a punch for the Bluejays. Fujan didn’t have to do it all anymore.

Creighton’s leading scorer, Marissa Janning, hit a 3-pointer that bounced off the front rim, back rim and fell at the 17:09 mark, giving her team a 31-26 advantage – its largest lead to that point.

Fujan and Janning each canned another 3 later in the half, extending the Bluejays’ lead to 10 with just 8:39 to go. Syracuse’s window was starting to close. Its chances of coming back were fading dimmer and dimmer.

But with three minutes remaining, the Orange switched to man-to-man defense and started forcing turnovers and getting out in transition.

“It really wasn’t our defense,” Hillsman said. “I know that’s what’s gonna be said, ‘It’s the zone, it’s the zone.’ I mean, they were 11-for-36 (from 3-point range).”

Syracuse embarked on a 7-0, two-minute, emotionally charged run capped by an inside jumper from Alexander – her final points as a member of the Orange – with 2:39 to go. After all the failed closeouts, lack of rebounding and missed shots, SU was only down three.

The teams traded points in the next few minutes, making the score 59-56 Creighton with under 20 seconds remaining.

Syracuse had one final chance to salvage its season and prevent the inevitable bitter taste that would linger for months if it were to lose.

Rachel Coffey passed the ball to Hall with five seconds to go. Hall chucked up a shot with three seconds left. It was wide right. The ball ricocheted off the rim and into Sarah Nelson’s hands.

“When it got down to those final minutes I felt like we did what we were supposed to do,” Tyson-Thomas said. “It just wasn’t in our favor.”

Syracuse’s season was over. Alexander, Hall and Tyson-Thomas’ four-year stint was history. They never got the NCAA tournament win they coveted for so long.

Said Alexander: “We had such high expectations for ourselves and this wasn’t how we expected it to finish.”

Published on March 23, 2013 at 6:55 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass