Rochelle Coleman traveled with 12 seconds left and the Syracuse women’s basketball team walked out of Manley Field House losers last night.

SU fell to Seton Hall, 48-44, with Coleman’s turnover typifying a game in which SU (6-11, 1-5 Big East) handled the ball more like a hot potato than a basketball.

“We turned the ball over 22 times,” SU head coach Marianna Freeman said. “That’s what happened. Twenty-two turnovers. You don’t have to dissect it. This is not rocket science here. You just can’t have that against any type of team.”

After Coleman’s miscue, she fouled Seton Hall (9-6, 3-2) guard Melissa Langelier, who made both free throws. Down 47-44, SU had 10 seconds to tie the game, but point guard Julie McBride clanked a 3-pointer with less than five seconds remaining.

Seton Hall forward Ashley Bush rebounded the miss, was immediately fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws with less than one second left to extend the Pirates’ lead to four.

SU’s 22 turnovers — including 14 in the first half — were its second most this season, second-worst to a 30-turnover performance in an 85-68 loss to Miami. Although the turnovers led to just 11 Seton Hall points, they kept SU from scoring enough, especially on Coleman’s break to the basket at the end.

After scoring 76 points in its five-point win at Boston College — which had the nation’s No. 11 scoring defense — SU’s 23 first-half points against Seton Hall marked its second-lowest offensive output for a half.

“They played good defense, but we didn’t make sharp cuts, we didn’t set screens,” McBride said. “It should be different.”

Syracuse opened the second half by outscoring SHU, 12-8, taking its biggest lead of the game, 35-29.

Coleman’s layup with 9:15 left put SU up, 40-37, but SHU outscored Syracuse 11-4 after that.

A Bush layup with one minute remaining gave SHU a 45-44 lead. Bush scored nine points and led SHU with 12 rebounds, including nine in the second half.

“We just have to make better decisions,” McBride said. “This has been (happening) the whole season, we’ll get a lead, and yet we’ll come down on defense and we won’t get stops.

“I’m mad that we lost, but I’m not frustrated. We still have a lot of time left. We’re still going to make it to the Big East tournament, and that’s where we’re going to do our damage.”

The game contrasted sharply with Saturday’s impressive win at Boston College. McBride, Shannon Perry and April Jean agreed that game was a turning point in the season. After the Orangewomen’s sluggish play last night, it seems like a distant memory.

“We were fired up for BC, and we come here, and we’re not fired up for Seton Hall,” McBride said. “Just because a team doesn’t have a number in front of its name doesn’t mean we automatically won, like we beat them.”

Perry once again left with an injury, this time clutching her right knee after going down early in the first half. She returned less than four minutes later, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds. After the game, she said her knee felt fine.

Center Tierra Jackson came off the bench to lead SU with 10 rebounds.

“We are disappointed, because we know we are a better team than how we played tonight,” Freeman said. “We will have disappointments. But we will also be one of those teams that will come back and be heard from.”

Published on January 21, 2003 at 12:00 pm