CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The Syracuse women’s basketball team has been resurrected. It was dead. It was in last place in the Big East, and it was the unlikeliest of candidates to snap No. 24 Boston College’s 15-game home winning streak.

But Saturday afternoon, Syracuse did just that, playing its best game of the season and winning, 76-71. And now that the Orangewomen have shown they have the talent to win big games, they’re legitimate players in the Big East.

In previous games, the Orangewomen looked passive, perhaps playing scared, trying not to make a mistake. The only consistent exceptions were the veterans, guards Julie McBride and Shannon Perry. Each has stayed positive in a season which was starting to look meaningless.

They both play like bulldogs. The scrappy 5-foot-8 Perry ranks second in the Big East in rebounding and fifth in scoring average. She’s as passionate as Charles Barkley with none of the baggage (and more hair).

McBride plays hard and possesses the potential to take over a game. She’s always sporting a bruise or three.

Clearly, neither she nor Perry minds a physical game.

It seems that now, 16 games into the season, some of that is rubbing off. Was that Tierra Jackson elbowing Boston College center Maureen Leahy in the face at the end of the first half, sending her to the ground and rousing the BC fans? And was that April Jean nodding in approval?

That’s not all. Against the Eagles, the Orangewomen set strong screens, took good shots (65.4-percent shooting in the first half), and center Jill Norton actually wanted the ball down low.

They outdefensed one of the country’s top defensive teams, holding the Eagles to 37.3-percent shooting.

Even more remarkable, the Orangewomen played well without Perry, who sat on the bench with foul trouble. Unexpectedly, Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman was less then elated about it.

‘We’ve had to play two ballgames without Shannon,’ Freeman said, ‘so I don’t think (playing well without her) was the difference.’

But when Perry was suspended for two games earlier this year for academic reasons, SU played poorly. The Orangewomen were outscored by 27 points. With Perry on the bench Saturday with foul trouble, they outscored the Eagles by six.

Though Syracuse is 6-10 and still tied for the worst overall record in the conference with St. John’s, the Orangewomen proved they are — as nearly every opposing coach has complimented this year — better than their record implies. The Orangewomen proved they’re capable of beating some of the best teams in the country.

They have the talent. The excuse was inexperience. That’s why they couldn’t win close games. That’s why, against Georgetown, they lost perhaps the most devastating game of the season, 82-75, in overtime. Players were not interviewed after that game at Freeman’s request. They couldn’t explain what had just happened, how this once promising season was all but over.

Surprisingly, it may have been one of the best things to happen to the Orangewomen. They refocused, went into Boston with nothing to lose and played possibly their best game.

Of course, a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance is out of the question. But with the way SU played Saturday, an NIT birth is now more realistic than optimistic. If SU makes the NIT, a deep run seems likely.

A 6-10 record isn’t exactly sitting pretty, but consider that the three ranked teams that beat SU won by a combined 12 points, and it’s not a stretch to say the Orangewomen are talented.

‘We’ve been in quite a number of overtime games,’ Freeman said. ‘We’ve always been right there. This is the first time we’ve been able to get over the hump and finish the basketball game.’

Syracuse has plenty of humps remaining. But if the Orangewomen play the way they did Saturday, they will quickly become a hump for the opposition.

Published on January 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm