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With five minutes left in the third quarter, Teisha Hyman took the ball up for the Orange, stopping at the right wing, allowing her teammates to give her space in isolation. Hyman sent Virginia Tech defender Cayla King to the hardwood floor with one crossover, stopping again with an open look for a basket.

As King fell, the entire front row of the Carrier Dome crowd got onto their feet, watching Hyman as she let go of the ball. But she missed.

Najé Murray collected the loose ball, giving it back to Hyman only to touch it again in the right corner. But Murray missed as well, allowing the Hokies to keep a 25-point lead.

“That was a tough one from the start,” acting head coach Vonn Read said. “(The Hokies are) a veteran basketball team and they played like it.”

The Hokies’ lead would extend to as much as 52 by the end of the night, with No. 23 Virginia Tech handing Syracuse a 102-53 loss, its worst of the season. Outside of Hyman’s 18 points, only one other SU player reached double figures. The Orange shot 30.3% from the field and 32.1% from deep, only shooting from the free-throw line four times.

Heading into the game, Murray said that the Orange’s final four matchups of the season, including Virginia Tech, are crucial in order to not face a ranked NC State or Louisville early in the ACC Tournament.

“We need to take care of business,” Murray said. “We have an opportunity on Thursday to beat a good Virginia Tech team. We need to remain together.”

While Murray struggled against the Hokies, the Orange were able to find some success early in the first half. Following a miss from Murray, Christianna Carr scored from the right wing after Chrislyn Carr found her early in the shot clock. Then, Alaysia Styles went to the same spot a few possessions later and also converted. Christianna scored once more from deep in the first quarter, and Hyman hit twice in the second. By halftime, the Orange had a 41.7% success rate from deep.

But the success from deep was temporary as the Hokies defense, which ranked 19th nationally heading into the game, began preventing those 3-point attempts. With quick players like Georgia Amoore and Aisha Sheppard guarding the wings, the Orange were forced to find other ways to score as their shots from deep were contested.

With six minutes left in the second quarter, Hyman scored on a step-back 3-pointer at the top of the key. Then Murray, despite being almost a foot shorter than Virginia Tech’s 6-foot-6 center Elizabeth Kitley, secured a rebound as the Hokies missed on the next possession. Murray found Chrislyn in transition at the right wing, but her shot missed — one of four of her missed shots in the second quarter.

At the start of the second half, the Orange’s Chrislyn and Christianna generated scoring from deep. But Amoore and Sheppard’s defense caught up with the Orange again, forcing them to go inside against Kitley. Alaina Rice attacked the basket with roughly a minute left in the third quarter. She missed, unable to elevate high enough over Kitley instead hitting the right side of the rim.

“When they have that size advantage, it’s hard on us,” Christianna said.

The Orange missed six layups against the Hokies defense and 14 of 18 attempts in the paint. In the fourth quarter, the Orange couldn’t score from anywhere on the court. The Hokies began to take their starters out, including taking Kitley out just three minutes into the final period. Syracuse soon followed, but its depth wasn’t able to do much aside from Julianna Walker, who was the only player off the bench to score.

Hyman had checked out of the game late in the third quarter, but Read called her back with six minutes left in the game. She took control of the offense from Chrislyn, immediately passing to Murray for her third and final attempt from deep. But like her other two shots — and the seven she missed against Pittsburgh — the ball bounced off the back of the rim, falling into the hands of D’asia Gregg. Rice missed twice more as the Hokies took a 43-point lead, forcing Read to call his final timeout of the night.

Play didn’t stop for the rest of the game as Murray took the ball up for SU in its final possession. Murray drove to the right side, passing to Walker at the left wing. Walker scored on just her second attempt of the game, breaking the Hokies largest lead of the night. But her shot was the only make from deep for the Orange in the final period, with the seven before hers — including Murray’s — unable to find the bottom of the net.

Published on February 17, 2022 at 10:57 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu