The sweat poured off Julie McBride’s face as she muttered to herself under her breath. The effort was there. The shots were there. The results were not.

There’s little doubt Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman gives her point guard, SU’s leading scorer, a license to shoot when she wants. And during the first half, McBride did just that, taking eight shots. Trouble was, only one went in.

Some of the misses looked downright ugly. With Syracuse down three in the first half, McBride took the ball at the top of the key and set her eyes on the basket. Driving the lane, she took an impossible shot from the right side of the paint that never touched the rim.

‘Coach yelled at me at first,’ McBride said. ‘She just told me to go out there and play my game, and that’s exactly what I did.’

No way would McBride let a few missed shots change her game. No way would she passively dish the ball off to her teammates. McBride played confidently and aggressively in the second half, scoring 10 points and shooting 4 for 5 on her way to a game total of 16 and SU’s 75-59 upset win.

With 3:39 remaining, she buried a three in front of the Syracuse bench to put SU ahead by 13, their biggest lead to that point. As the ball sank into the basket, a dagger sank into the hearts of Virginia Tech. The Syracuse bench exploded in celebration as McBride pumped her fists all the way to midcourt.

She pulled a 180 from the last time they played. When the two teams met in Blacksburg, Va., on Jan. 5, McBride scored just five points, the only time this season she did not break double digits. So forgive McBride if she was a little excited. She played with a mission last night, and she accomplished it. Just not until the second half.

‘She didn’t score very much at our place, and she was determined to play her game here,’ said Virginia Tech guard Chrystal Starling, who is friendly with McBride off the court. ‘She’s a great player. She’s going to get her shots.’

And make them.

‘She came out here with a purpose to have a good game tonight, and that she did,’ Virginia Tech head coach Bonnie Henrickson said. ‘Great players can do that.’

Make no mistake about it. McBride’s three-pointer all but clinched a victory over the Big East’s second-place team, also ranked 16th in the country and winners of 12 straight. And to no one’s surprise, it was McBride who dealt the fatal blow.

After the game, the sweat pouring off McBride’s face subsided, but a look of determination remained engraved on her normally stoic face.

‘I’m a competitor,’ McBride said, ‘and I’m gonna score too.’

This and that

Center Maja Omanovic started her second straight game, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds. ‘You know in the game she’s going to work real hard to do what you told her to do,’ Freeman said. ‘That’s why she’s in the starting lineup.’ Still, Chineze Nwagbo saw the majority of minutes at center, playing 23 compared to Omanovic’s 17. … Senior Jaime James was honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th-career point Saturday afternoon against Georgetown. Her 33 points Saturday were the highest by any Big East player this season in conference play. … The 75 points surrendered to Syracuse are the most Virginia Tech has allowed this season. … A large Virginia Tech fan contingency sat behind the Hokie bench. Most of them cheered on Starling, a Nottingham High School graduate. Starling said she had a number of family, friends and former coaches and teachers at the game. While her family and friends came for the support, the Syracuse band jeered her with chants of ‘traitor’ whenever she touched the ball.

Published on January 23, 2002 at 12:00 pm