You’d think that from 40 minutes of basketball, a coach could point out more than just one good series of plays.

But that’s the only positive Syracuse women’s basketball head coach Marianna Freeman could draw from SU’s 83-66 loss at Siena on Friday.

Freeman said the three-minute span to start the second half — in which SU made up nine points to come within four of the Saints — was the Orangewomen’s lone highlight.

‘We have to concentrate on what we didn’t do right,” Freeman said, “so that when we can make a significant run like that, it makes a difference.’

Freeman dedicated almost an hour at practice Tuesday to showing her team the tape from Friday’s game and pointing out numerous mistakes. She stressed two points as the tape rolled.

‘She talked to us about defense and rebounding,’ sophomore Rochelle Coleman said. ‘We didn’t box out or get in position like she told us to all last week in practice.’

The Orangewomen were outrebounded by the Saints, 46-31, while junior Shannon Perry accounted for more than one-third of SU’s rebounds. Siena doubled SU on second-chance points, 10-5.

As for defense, it wasn’t about SU’s lack of execution.

‘Defense is about heart, and we really didn’t have that when we went down to Siena,’ junior Julie McBride said. ‘Coach told us that we have to just pick up the defensive intensity for the rest of the year, because we’ll be playing some really good teams.’

Freeman also talked to McBride and Coleman about denying the pass to the inside post. Against Siena, SU center Tierra Jackson was ineffective once 6-foot-2 Siena center Leine Jansone received the ball under the basket. Jansone dominated with 13 rebounds and a career-high 29 points, while Syracuse was outscored in the post, 38-28.

Freeman also showed footage of last year’s team to ‘show everyone what it’s supposed to look like,” McBride said.

‘We didn’t play a very good basketball game,’ Freeman said. ‘And there were signs where we could be a very good basketball team. But we have to get rid of the youth errors that we’re making right now in order for us to be a very good basketball team.”

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Diop returns

Junior center Awa Diop suited up at practice Monday for the first time in almost two weeks. Diop was sidelined after fainting at practice earlier this season.

Diop won’t be able to play in a game until Dec. 1 at San Francisco because of an NCAA-imposed, four-game suspension. The suspension stems from Diop’s summer stint with a French club team. Other players on the team were paid, though Diop wasn’t.

Diop played four games with those players, and received a four-game suspension because of the NCAA’s one-for-one penalty. Freeman said she knew all summer that a suspension was pending.

On Tuesday, though, Diop didn’t participate in drills or scrimmages with the rest of the team but shot baskets off to the side. To stay warm, Diop rode a bike on the sideline.

It was a far different look than last week. In SU’s 83-71 exhibition win over Team Concept on Nov. 7, Diop sat on the bench, wearing a sweatshirt and trench coat. She needed assistance from assistant trainer Karen McKinney to walk to the locker room at halftime.

But Tuesday, Diop looked more like the No. 1 junior-college center who averaged 11.2 points and 7.8 rebounds for Western Nebraska Community College last season.

‘I can’t wait to come back, because I feel like I’ve been out so long,’ Diop said. ‘So I can’t wait to get back out on the floor and go at full strength.’

Freeman said catching up on offensive and defensive won’t be a problem for Diop, calling her a ‘really smart kid.’

‘She’s coming along, doing some shooting, riding on the bikes,’ Freeman said. ‘She’s been out quite a long time, and we’re trying to get her back condition-wise for the most part.’

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This and that

McBride and Coleman suffered cramps against Siena, which may have contributed to their poor shooting. Coleman shot 6 of 17, McBride 4 of 16. ‘It’s over and done with,’ Freeman said. ‘We just have to eat our bananas, get that potassium.’… High school senior Tracy Harbut has signed a letter of intent to play at Syracuse next season, Freeman said. In three years, she’s led Bryan Station High School (Lexington, Ky.), to a 118-30 record while averaging 17.6 points and 7.6 rebounds. … With SU’s loss to Siena, Freeman dropped to 17-13 all-time in November.

Published on November 19, 2002 at 12:00 pm