If you attended Syracuse’s women’s basketball game against Miami last week, you missed forward Shannon Perry. If you were at last night’s game against Georgetown, you couldn’t miss her.

Perry, who sat out SU’s Big East home opener against Miami because of academic suspension, returned to Manley Field House and posted a stat line that would cause Big East coaches to cringe.

It was the oft-injured Perry who played all 45 minutes of the 82-75 overtime loss.

It was Perry who shot 10 of 13 to improve her field-goal percentage to 57.1 for the season.

It was Perry who led SU in points (28) and rebounds (15), the sixth time she’s accomplished the feat this season and the 10th time she’s recorded a double-double.

It was Perry who, with 13:14 left in the second half, stole the ball for the third straight possession, leading to a Rochelle Coleman layup and five-point lead.

It was Perry who, with 6.3 seconds left and Syracuse down two, corralled guard Julie McBride’s missed 3-pointer and layed the ball in to send the game into overtime.

Although Perry missed two late free throws, it happened after she went down hard while driving to the hole. But nobody complained.

In effect, Perry single-handedly kept SU in the game.

“I’m seeing Shannon Perry in my sleep,” Georgetown head coach Patrick Knapp said. “She’s a nightmare. It’s ridiculous how we couldn’t box her out.”

Not in the box score was Perry’s versatility. Although she started at small forward, Perry also handled the point-guard duties with McBride on the bench with foul trouble. SU head coach Marianna Freeman credited Perry with keeping the pressure off inexperienced guard Krystalyn Ellerbe, who replaced McBride.

“I can’t ask any more of Shannon than what she’s given,” Freeman said. “If I didn’t have her, my hair would be grayer than it already is.”

After the heartbreaking loss, Syracuse players were not made available for interviews at Freeman’s request.

All in the family

Georgetown’s lineup had one familiar face to the Syracuse basketball family.

Senior forward Nok Duany scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in front of her older brother, Syracuse men’s basketball guard Kueth Duany.

Kueth entered the arena with about 8:00 remaining in the first half and received numerous autograph requests alongside guard Josh Pace.

“I’m just here for my family,” Kueth said. “I just want her to play well and for it to be a good game. But family comes first.”

Would Nok return the favor when the Syracuse men visit Georgetown?

“I would love to,” Nok said. “But unfortunately we’ll be out of town at that time (at St. John’s).

“It’s nice to come here and have him see me play. It’s hard with our schedules because either he’s away or I’m away, so it’s great to see him since we’re really close.”

The extra session

This was Syracuse’s third overtime game this season. After beating Vermont earlier in the year, 79-75, SU has now lost two straight overtime games. The Orangewomen’s other loss came to then-No. 25 Colorado, 78-75.

The problem may have been fatigue. Four of SU’s five starters played more than 39 minutes. Freeman did not make one substitution in overtime.

“Quite frankly,” Freeman said, “our (starting) five have to play a lot of minutes, because we’ve yet to find five others who can step up.”

This and that

After a Julie McBride layup to open the overtime session, Georgetown outscored SU, 11-2, the rest of the way. … McBride’s 1-of-7 3-point shooting left her one 3-pointer shy of tying Teakyta Barnes for second-place for career threes. However, she has now hit a three in 15 consecutive games, a career-high. She is shooting 39.4 percent for the year. … Center Maja Omanovic has not played in three consecutive games. Freeman said she’s still in the rotation, but the matchups haven’t been conducive for Omanovic to play. Omanovic was the starting center in SU’s season-opening loss to Siena. …The Orangewomen had more points in the paint than the Hoyas (34-28), more points off turnovers (19-17), more second-chance points (17-11) and more fast-break points (8-2). …Syracuse drops to 0-4 in conference play for the first time since 1998-99.

Published on January 15, 2003 at 12:00 pm