As Kayla Goth drained a 3-pointer in the left corner, Tiana Mangakahia calmly jogged to the end line to take the inbounds pass before she slowly walked the ball up the court. The erratic play of the quarter before in the past, Syracuse’s point guard watched as the ball moved cleanly around the arc and to a wide open Digna Strautmane in the corner. With its newfound control, the Orange took charge.

No. 14 Syracuse (4-1) recovered from a sloppy third quarter to beat Kansas State (3-1), 70-61, in the first round of the Cancun Challenge. Against the team that hadn’t won in three trips to Cancun and coming off a 10-point win over ranked Texas A&M, the Orange didn’t settle until their erratic play did.

Syracuse, who came into the game tied for 233rd in the country with just over 18 turnovers per game, showed no early signs of struggles. A Mangakahia and-1, an Amaya Finklea-Guity lay in and a Strautmane 3-pointer pushed the Orange up ahead nine points late in the first quarter. Scoring runs carried the Orange all game and the Wildcats could only slow down SU’s flashes of brilliance with uncontrolled drives to the rim that drew fouls.

K-State showed its defensive prowess with two blocks to end the first half on SU shots down low, but a Mangakahia transition 3 and two-straight Strautmane blocks into a Kiara Lewis bucket in transition put SU in firm control.

But then the turnovers hit. Mangakahia coughed the ball up as the buzzer sounded at halftime. When SU’s shots didn’t fall in the third quarter, the turnovers persisted. The Wildcats outscored the Orange 17-6 as fouls, errant passes and three second violations shot SU’s turnover total up to 21 by the end of the period.

Syracuse’s entry passes were picked, its cross-court passes tracked and its moves telegraphed. Emily Engstler lofted a ball into the left block midway through the third quarter, but Kansas State easily got a hand on it to corral the Wildcat’s second steal of the quarter. The freshman lifted her arms up in frustration. The Orange, who seemingly couldn’t make a mistake early, were making every one.

With just over 30 seconds remaining in the quarter Kansas State had led for just 19 seconds of the game, but by the end of third period, the Wildcats reclaimed a lead it hadn’t held since the game’s first bucket.

A similar sloppininess started the fourth as Engstler tried another entry pass that was tipped, but she regained control and spun inside for a basket. Then Syracuse started its role. A team that relied on runs got one when it needed. Syracuse started a scoring barrage and never looked back. It slowed its drives, calculated its shots and transferred the pressure to the Wildcats, who lost control of the pace they set in the third. Syracuse didn’t turn the ball over once in the fourth quarter.

After playing hero ball in SU’s last game, Mangakahia settled into her late game waltz. The damage was done.

Published on November 22, 2018 at 4:25 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary