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Georgia Woolley stole the ball at midcourt and pushed forward.

Two Louisville defenders surrounded her, but she broke free with a spin move in the paint and put up a soft layup attempt that hit every part of the rim before falling out.

The Syracuse home crowd, who had fallen silent as the Cardinals built up a 14-5 run in around five minutes, groaned in disappointment at SU’s inability to score with the same fluidity as in the opening half.

In its last game on Thursday, Syracuse and Virginia went back-and-forth for two quarters and SU recorded three steals, three blocks and created 19 of its 24 points in the final quarter off of Cavalier turnovers.

But SU’s matchup with Louisville on Sunday was an even tighter affair that drew comparisons to its past games against ranked opponents, Notre Dame and Duke, where the Orange suffered a 4th-quarter collapse.

Despite a 20-point outing from Woolley, Syracuse (14-8, 5-6 Atlantic Coast) lost to Louisville (16-8, 7-4 ACC) at home, 79-67. Outmatched in the frontcourt, the Cardinals outscored SU in the paint 38-22 and took advantage of the Orange’s sloppy ball-handling to force 27 points off turnovers and record 35 fast-break points.

“I didn’t know how to get them organized,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “That could be us, that could be other things, and we’re going to have to figure it out.”

A few possessions into the game, which included an Alaina Rice three and a Saniaa Wilson block, a scramble over a loose-ball situation saw Dyaisha Fair crash to the floor along the right baseline. Shortly afterward, she was helped into the locker room, looking unable to place any weight on her ankle. Woolley subbed in for Fair.

Leaving the contest at the 7:35 mark, Syracuse was left without a floor general. Teisha Hyman ran the offense on a couple of trips down, scoring on a transition pull-up to get on the board, but ultimately, Louisville fought back against a stagnant SU offense.

Kennedi Perkins, who has faced limited minutes all season, came into the game with 5:10 remaining in the opening quarter after Hyman left as well with some discomfort in her lower leg. She did not return to the game as Perkins attempted to provide the Orange with a much-needed point guard.

“I think she was the only guard that showed she could be responsive to this situation,” Legette-Jack said. “The others got to get better, it’s as simple as that.”

On one play, Perkins was able to slash into the middle before dropping in a running floater. However, the freshman committed two quick turnovers and the Cardinals decided to execute a soft half-court press to speed Perkins up.

“You don’t throw the diamond ring away,” Legette-Jack said about giveaways.

The two teams continued to trade buckets toward the end of the opening quarter. At the 2:52 mark, a scary collision between Rice and Louisville’s Mykasa Robinson saw the SU guard collapse onto the ground, holding her head. She was also helped into the locker room and Cheyenne McEvans took her place. A minute later, Syracuse went up 13-9 after Woolley converted a three-point play.

“It was almost a bowling alley out there,” Legette-Jack said. “One of my players went down, another went down, another went down, and everytime we went down it was our fault.”

During the game, three of SU’s key players had to leave at some point. Prior to tipoff, Asia Strong didn’t take the floor and was sidelined in a tracksuit for reasons unknown.

But then, Fair re-entered the court to take a seat on the bench. Louisville’s Nyla Harris scored a layup and Hailey Van Lith executed a three-point play of her own with about a minute-and-a-half to play in the first quarter to give the Cardinals a 14-13 lead.

Although Fair felt comfortable enough to start the second quarter, Louisville embarked on an 14-0 run to start the period. Down by 12 with just over seven minutes to play in the half, Fair hobbled over to the right wing, shaking her head as she made her way down the court. Catching the ball in stride from Perkins, Fair hit a 3 for her second basket of the game.

The make from range seemed to pump a little more life into the Orange.

Later in the first, Perkins drove toward the right short corner and put up a tough fall-away jumper that hit the back rim before bouncing out. Positioned perfectly, Fair gathered the long rebound before dishing the ball back out to Perkins, unmarked on the right wing. Steadying herself beforehand, she swished the attempt.

On SU’s ensuing offensive possession, Woolley circled around the right perimeter before launching a wild shot from where Perkins hit moments before. Her jumper swirled around the rim before landing. Woolley hit a 3 to give Syracuse a 34-19 lead.

Good signs for the Orange presented itself early in the third quarter. Woolley started right where she left off, hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and Fair also looked far more comfortable. Receiving a switch from the Louisville defense that matched her up against the much larger Olivia Cochran, Fair motioned for a clear-out before getting Cochran to fly by after a pump fake. Now uncontested, Fair leaned in to see her attempt trickle in.

The Orange were able to hold a comfortable yet slim lead to start the half thanks to two quick steals. With just over four minutes gone in the third, SU almost got their third steal, but instead, Louisville tracked the ball back into the backcourt to maintain possession before Chrislyn Carr made a corner 3.

Two trips to the free-throw line saw Syracuse retake the lead toward the dying embers of the third. First Perkins sank two shots at the charity stripe before Kyra Wood split a pair. As Wood steadied herself for her second shot with 3:28 remaining, Rice checked back into the game and the crowd lit up in anticipation.

Going into the fourth quarter, the forwards on both teams scored down low and Woolley hit her third three-pointer to tie things up at 54. But, with just under a minute remaining in the penultimate quarter, Louisville went on a 11-0 run. First, Carr made a shot from range near the top of the key.

Up 61-54 to start the final 10 minutes, Harris scored a wide-open layup, assisted by Robinson, to increase Louisville’s lead to nine. On the next offensive possession, the two linked up again in almost identical fashion to generate a double-digit lead.

While Harris, Cochran, Liz Dixon and the bigger Cardinal players enjoyed a plethora of easy looks near the basket, SU was unable to generate the same amount of production from its forwards and center. Lewis totaled eight points while Wood and Wilson combined for just seven.

“We only have three bigs and they played the best they could,” Legette-Jack said. “I just think they weren’t looking at the basket and we’ll get better with that. We have to.”

Coming out of a timeout, Wilson corralled a tough offensive board to free up Woolley for an easy layup as she drove baseline but the Orange seemed to have given up. Harris hit a mid-range jumper and Morgan Jones laid the ball in before hitting two free throws. Fair continued to push, attempting a three-on-one trip and euro-stepping her way to the basket on another. Both attempts failed to drop. Around halfway into the fourth, two Robinson free-throws helped the Cardinal lead balloon to 73-56.

Fair finished with 19 as the only other SU player besides Woolley to score in double figures. Wilson and Lewis both recorded seven rebounds each while Perkins totaled seven points. Despite leading the Orange in scoring, Woolley committed a game-high eight turnovers.

Lewis missed a left-handed layup down low but the rebound fell to Fair. Fair stepped back and threw up a three-pointer that rimmed out. The shot, meant to make some sort of inroad in cutting down the 79-61 Louisville lead that the Cardinals had orchestrated through efficiently sharing the ball inside, fell short.

“That’s the most crazy game I’ve ever been a part of,” Legette-Jack said. “What in the heck is going on out there? We just couldn’t adjust to the ways it was going to be called and we just couldn’t pull it all together.”

Published on January 29, 2023 at 2:21 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff