Orangewomen Lose in OT to #25 Colorado
12/31/2002 8:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Despite a season-high 25 points from junior Shannon Perry (Providence, R.I./LaSalle), the Syracuse women's basketball team lost a 78-75 overtime decision to #25 Colorado on Tuesday, December 31, at Manley Field House. SU is now 4-6, while the Buffaloes improved to 9-1.
Perry led the Orangewomen with 11 rebounds to record her eighth double-double in the team's first 10 outings. Sophomore Rochelle Coleman (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) added 22 points, including six in the extra period. Junior Julie McBride (Mechanicville, N.Y./Catholic Central) and freshman Tierra Jackson (Upper Marlboro, Md./Frederick Douglass) rounded out the double-figure scoring for SU with 11 and 10 points, respectively. McBride also dished out a game-high eight assists.
Kate Fagan led Colorado with 22 points. Tera Bjorklund scored 21 points, while Linda Lappe and Maria Billingsley added 10 apiece.
Colorado jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game's first two minutes before Perry scored the Orangewomen's first points on a three-point play. Perry and Coleman combined for SU's initial 13 points.
The Buffaloes extended their lead to 19-8, the largest margin in the game, on a three-point basket by Maria Billingsley at the 12:11 mark. An ensuing 9-1 SU run, including five points from Coleman, three from Perry and a free throw by Jill Norton (Marlton, N.J./Bishop Eustace Prep), cut the Buffs' lead to 20-17. The scoring margin would not extend to more than six either way the rest of the game.
A Jackson lay-up and two free throws by Perry cut the lead to two before Colorado scored four unanswered points to close out the first half. Fagan's 17 first-half points, including five successful three-point field goals, powered the Buffaloes to a slim 38-32 lead at halftime. As a team, Colorado shot 8-of-17 (47%) from beyond the arc in the initial stanza.
A fastbreak lay-up by Perry gave Syracuse its first lead of the game at 47-46 with 12:33 remaining in regulation. The game saw nine lead changes for the remainder of the second period.
With the game knotted at 59 -59, consecutive baskets by Perry, junior April Jean (Sacramento, Calif./Coffeyville C.C.) and Coleman gave the Orangewomen their biggest lead of the game with 3:12 remaining. Colorado freshman Amber Metoyer's jump shot with 15 seconds on the clock capped a six-point run and sent the game into overtime.
Syracuse built a 72-67 lead on a three-pointer by Coleman with 3:35 left in overtime. Colorado answered with a Fagan three-point basket and four points from Bjorklund to regain the lead for the first time in the extra session with 1:46 remaining. Coleman responded with another three-pointer, but Fagan's jump shot from just inside the three-point arc gave the Buffaloes a 76-75 advantage. Lappe made two free throws to seal the Colorado victory.
The Orangewomen return to action when they host Cornell on Thursday, January 2. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Manley Field House.
