Women’s Basketball: Panthers lose third straight

The Syracuse Orange used a 6-0 run late in the first half to turn a one-point advantage into a… The Syracuse Orange used a 6-0 run late in the first half to turn a one-point advantage into a seven-point lead, successfully distancing themselves from the Pitt women’s basketball team.

The small run proved enough for the Orange (15-4, 3-3 Big East), as they held a lead for the remainder of the game and handed the Panthers (9-10, 1-5 Big East) a 69-60 loss at the Carrier Dome. It was Pitt’s third-straight loss.

After the game, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said he entered the matchup with the goal of rebounding the basketball well and controlling Pitt’s performance from beyond the arc.

“We wanted to make sure they didn’t make a ton of threes on us,” he said. “We did a very good job of getting out on the shooters. We didn’t want [Shayla] Scott and [Taneisha] Harrison to make threes.”

The Orange held Scott and Harrison to a combined 1-11 from beyond the arc, and the Panthers went 5-22 as a team from three. Syracuse also met its goal of winning the rebounding battle, grabbing 44 boards, including 24 offensive, to Pitt’s 30.

“It’s a Big East game,” Hillsman said. “We do what we always do. We’re all over the glass, and we’re going to rebound it.”

With 2:56 remaining in the first half and the score 28-27 in favor of Syracuse, Erica Morrow sank a jumper, Iasia Hemingway followed with two free throws and Kayla Alexander finished the scoring surge with a layup to put the Orange up 34-27 with 1:37 remaining before the break.

The Panthers slimmed the lead to five before halftime, as Chelsea Cole made a jumper and Harrison sank a 3-pointer, but the run proved enough to keep the Panthers at bay. Pitt wouldn’t come any closer than four points in the second half.

Syracuse opened up a lead as large as 13 twice in the second half, but the Panthers kept fighting back, slimming the Orange advantage to six points with just more than two minutes remaining in the game.

But Hemingway answered the two Scott free throws with a layup. Then, after the Panthers were unable to score, Harrison fouled Morrow.

Morrow sank two foul shots to put Syracuse back up by 10, 65-55, with 46 seconds remaining, putting the Panthers away for good.

“In the second half, we started getting the ball inside a lot more,” Hillsman said. “We attacked the rim and just did the things that we do.”

Both offenses struggled in the game, particularly in the second half when neither team scored for minutes. Following the game, Syracuse’s Carmen Tyson-Thomas said the Orange played quality zone defense to make up for a sometimes stagnant offense.

“We were all over the place, hands active, feet moving, in our stance,” she said.

Tyson-Thomas grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench. Four Syracuse players reached double figures, led by Morrow and Elashier Hall with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Scott led the Panthers with 16 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Harrison scored 11 and Cole added 10.

Pitt will be back in action on Jan. 29 at home against Marquette.