Syracuse WBB falls to #9 North Carolina

Photo by Jess Van

After two losses in their West Coast road trip the Orange came home to play #9 ranked UNC. In a game that Coach Felicia Legette-Jack said her team played with "fear," the Orange were dominated in the paint, leading to a 68-58 loss. The Tar Heels outscored Syracuse 40-20 in the paint and controlled the boards 40-26. 

One could argue that Syracuse was never truly out of this game, just could never string together the stops necessary to force a comeback. The loss pushes the Orange back to the 14th spot out of 15 for ACC tournament seeding. Things could be shaken up very fast being only one game ahead of the 16th ranked University of Miami. 

UNC was without second leading scorer(10.7), leading rebounder(9.4), and assist leader(3.0), Alyssa Utsby, who left UNC's last game early. Nonetheless, by the dominance in the paint on both ends, you would have no clue Utsby led in those categories. 

Early in the game the Orange had UNC right where they wanted them. Sloppy play, and hard defense had the game close all the way through. Through the first 5 minutes UNC had only scored seven points, the Orange had six, by the end of the first quarter, 15-12. 

Knowing that UNC came in with the #1 ranked defense in the league, Coach Jack and crew could have assumed this would be a low scoring affair. 

The second quarter is where the game slipped away from the Orange. UNC's defense ignited a momentum shift with three consecutive steals in the second quarter. Woolley turned the ball over to Lexi Donarski, leading to a Trayanna Crisp 3-pointer. Woolley then knocked down a pair of contested 3s to bring Syracuse within two at 24-22 while reaching double digits in scoring.

Maria Gakdeng would start to exploit her mis-matches inside while Woolley remained aggressive for Syracuse. Wooley knocked down one more three pointer from the top of the key before Gakdeng would take over.

The Gakdeng takeover led to an 11-3 run for the Tar Heels that eventually saw a halftime lead of 10 points, 35-25. 

"Coming into the game we knew that she was gonna be dominant down there, so we had the game plan, you know, get off her body, don't let her get that deep seal," said Sophie Burrows. "I don't necessarily think we followed the game plan as well as we could have, you know, letting her get that deep sea down low," 

The second half would be more of the same from both teams, trading buckets. The lead never ballooned to more than 15 points for the Tar Heels. The 15 point lead came early, two minutes into the third quarter as Gakdeng scored and Cierra Toomey knocked down a three pointer. 

But the Orange persevered, Olivia Schmitt came alive in the second half pouring in nine points on shots from the outside. Schmitt also had help from Sophie Burrows who buried a three pointer of her own. The lead was down to five for the Tar Heels with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter. 

"All my three's were kind of wide open, so I knew I had to knock them down. When I come into the game I have to make an impact and that comes with making big shots," said Schmitt. 

Nonetheless a layup and an out of bounds call leading to a Lexi Donarski three pointer pushed the lead back to 10 as the quarter ended. 

Kyra Wood who had only played 12 minutes before the fourth quarter checked in for what felt like the the first time in forever. With immediate impact Wood hit a signature jumper from close range. After a trap leading to a UNC timeout, Olivia Schmitt got a steal leading to Kyra Wood at the free throw line, a quick, much needed, four points from Wood. 

But UNC kept responding, a timely Lexi Donarski three would eventually push the lead back to 13 for the Tar Heels. That would be all she wrote. 

Coach Jack has on record said that this team is in a rebuilding period. While there are no moral victories in a game like this, seeing your freshman play well in Olivia Schmitt, has to feel good for Coach Jack. 

Hopefully Schmitt is around a few more years. 

As for fear, Coach Jack believes a game like this is a life lesson. 

"So don't play number nine, don't play North Carolina. Play a bunch of young ladies on the other side of the floor, and that's the toughness that we have to get because this to me is a microcosm of life," said Coach Jack. 

Surely she hopes her team will take heed in that lesson in life, but fans are hoping the team takes heed sooner, as the road gets no easier. With Miami only a game back and #11 ranked Duke coming up on Sunday, and a Pittsburgh team on the bubble from the outside looking in, there is no time for fear for this team.