Rachel Coffey was out of place.

The Syracuse point guard planted her feet just beyond the arc on the right baseline, put up a 3-pointer that hit off the top corner of the backboard and fell into the hands of Georgetown guard Sugar Rodgers. Trailing 63-62 with 19 seconds remaining, the Orange needed Coffey’s shot to fall.

Away from the top of key, where she was knocking down 3s with ease, Coffey misfired on her final attempt from long range. But in a game where the Orange’s offense was off, Coffey kept it afloat until nearly the very end. 

‘She has shot the ball well,’ Georgetown head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. ‘We kept telling our people at the top of our zone that we had to get out to her because she had been shooting the ball extremely well. Once a shooter gets confidence, it doesn’t really matter.’

The guard repeatedly found herself open at the top of the key, draining five 3s in Syracuse’s 65-62 loss to the No. 15 Hoyas Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Coffey finished the game 5-of-12 from the field for 15 points — all on 3-pointers. As a team, the Orange shot just 33.3 percent, a considerable drop off from its previous two games when SU shot 40.6 percent against DePaul and 54.4 percent against Marquette.

From the start of the game, Coffey established the top of the arc as her shooting spot.

She put Syracuse up 3-0 after sinking a catch-and-shoot 3 off a pass from SU guard Elashier Hall on the right wing. Coffey hit two more in the first half, and each shot came in critical moments.

‘I’m just more confident in my shooting,’ Coffey said. ‘Coach is telling me to knock it down. When it releases, it just feels like it’s always going to go in.’

With just under 10 minutes left in the first half, the Orange whipped the ball around the top of the zone trying to get an open look. Hall stretched her arms up to save a pass from nearly going out of bounds, and then immediately dished off to Coffey, who was stationed – once again – at the top of key.

Coffey drained the triple to put SU up 16-13.

‘Rachel’s playing really good for us,’ Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘And she’s doing what I ask her to do, which is shoot every open 3 off a ball reversal. So I’m very proud of what she’s doing. To play 37 minutes against Georgetown, to have two turnovers is tremendous.’

Against the Blue Demons, Coffey made six of her nine 3-point attempts, and her confidence rolled right into the game against the Hoyas.

The sophomore hit two more in the second half, both coming from her favorite spot at the top of the arc. Her first of the second half put SU up 35-29, a comfortable cushion as the Orange appeared ready to pull away.

But the Hoyas fought back and eventually took a 38-37 lead. With a little under 14 minutes left in the game, though, Coffey knocked down another 3 to put SU up 40-38. Whenever the Orange needed her to put the dagger through a potential GU run, Coffey came through.

Until her final try.

Coffey had some scoring help. Iasia Hemingway finished with 20 points, but 10 of those came from the free-throw line. Carmen Tyson-Thomas finished with 11 points, but went just 4-of-21 from the field, while Kayla Alexander also had 11, with five of them coming from the charity stripe.

The point guard’s shooting became SU’s backbone on offense in a game that saw the Orange miss 21 field goals in the second half. Syracuse played the Hoyas down to the wire, but likely wouldn’t have been in that position if Coffey hadn’t been shooting so well.

From her spot at the top of the arc, Coffey was lethal. Just as she was against DePaul and she duplicated that performance against Georgetown.

And Hillsman knows the Orange needs her to keep it up with the season winding down.

‘I thought she played a monster game for us,’ Hillsman said, ‘and if she keeps playing this way, we’re going to be a very good basketball team.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on February 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman