Perhaps the two stars delegated responsibility before the game, Julie McBride agreeing to pace Syracuse in the first half, Shannon Perry taking the second.

Regardless of the plan, that’s how it worked out for the Syracuse women’s basketball team in its 66-58 win over Providence last night at Manley Field House. It was SU’s first Big East home win this year.

McBride scored 16 points — including nine in the game’s first nine minutes — and Perry scored 10 during a span of 5:30 in the second half. Perry shot 8 of 13, leading the Orangewomen with 18 points and 11 rebounds, her 12th double-double this season.

‘Shannon is an incredible basketball player,’ Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman said. ‘It was her hustle. She has an incredible nose for the basketball. And underneath, she’s got a great body. She’s tough to defend. She finds a way to get the ball up, and that’s what makes her so special.’

With 11:03 left in the game and the score tied at 44, Perry scored four of Syracuse’s next five field goals, hitting a layup and drawing a foul on three possessions. Perry’s leaning jumper with 5:47 left gave SU a 57-50 lead. She also grabbed eight second-half rebounds.

‘That’s where we lost the ballgame,” Providence head coach Susan Yow said. “That five-minute period, it just really hurt us. The difference in this game was inside, especially Perry. They outscored us, 34-18, in the paint, and she’s the reason.’

Said Perry: ‘I was trying to play at a high level all game. The girl who was boxing me out was turning around before the shot even went up. She wasn’t as fast as me, so I just went around her.’

The Orangewomen led by as many as 10, on an April Jean free throw with 5:11 left, and the Friars never again came closer than four.

Before carrying SU in the second half, Perry started slow, with six first-half points. McBride starred early, scoring nine of SU’s first 20 points and grabbing three steals.

But with 4:34 left in the first half, shortly after one of those steals, guard Krystalyn Ellerbe replaced McBride. As McBride left the floor, she gripped her right elbow, which was already wrapped in tape. McBride shot 0 of 4 from 3-point range and 1 of 5 overall in the second half. After the game, she called the elbow ‘a non-issue.’

McBride took issue with Providence forward Kristin Quinn, who punched McBride in the stomach 2:08 into the second half, drawing a technical foul.

‘That was a first,’ McBride said. ‘Teams have been zoning-in on Shannon and me, and if they think they can take us out of the game by either being physical with us or whatever, we’ve faced this before. It’s just bad sportsmanship.’

Quinn played the whole game and led Providence with 14. The Friars’ leading-scorer, Michal Epstein, came off the bench and played just five first-half minutes because of a stress fracture in her left foot, Yow said. Epstein scored 10 points in 22 minutes.

Syracuse shot 65 percent in the first half on 13-of-20 shooting. Despite the accurate shooting, the Orangewomen needed a Jean buzzer-beating put-back to head to halftime tied at 32. The teams traded baskets to begin the second half until Perry’s outburst nine minutes in.

‘We were very fortunate to rebound the ball,’ Freeman said. “We came out in the second half with a lot more intensity, and we hit some tough shots down the stretch to walk away with this win.’

Published on February 19, 2003 at 12:00 pm