Top-Ranked Huskies Defeat Orangewomen, 75-51
2/12/2003 10:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. - The Syracuse women's basketball team had its three-game BIG EAST road winning streak snapped on Wednesday night with a 75-51 loss to top-ranked Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center in front of a crowd of 16,294.
The Huskies (23-0, 10-0 BIG EAST) extended their winning streak to 62 games, while the Orangewomen (8-14, 3-8 BIG EAST) lost their third straight match. SU has now played its last three games against ranked teams. Syracuse lost to #25 Boston College on February 1 and to 22nd-ranked Villanova on February 8.
Junior Julie McBride led Syracuse with 18 points, including three three-pointers. She moved into 12th place on SU's all-time scoring list with 1,075 points. Sophomore Rochelle Coleman joined McBride in double-figures with 16 points, and junior Shannon Perry contributed six points, 10 rebounds and six steals.
After trailing by 17 points at half, 35-18, Syracuse cut its deficit to 13 at the start of the second stanza with three-pointers by McBride and Coleman. Syracuse's rally was cut short by Jessica Moore, who led UConn on a 14-4 run with six points to give the Huskies a 51-28 advantage with 12:46 left in the game. Connecticut shot 60 percent (15-25) from the field in the second half. After going 0-of-5 from the three-point range in the first half, Syracuse connected on 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from behind the arc in the second half, including four by Coleman.
Syracuse was held to 19 percent shooting (5-of-26) in the first half compared to the 12-of-36 (33 percent) performance of the Huskies. With SU trailing, 16-10, in the first half, Connecticut scored nine points and held SU scoreless over a seven-minute span to jump ahead, 25-10 with 7:39 left until intermission. After McBride and Perry connected for four points, Connecticut would again prevent SU from scoring with a 10-0 run to take its largest lead of the first half, 35-14.
Barbara Turner led Connecticut with 18 points from off the bench. Moore added 15 points, Ashley Battle chipped in 13 tallies and Ann Strother rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 points. Battle and Willlnett Crockett led Connecticut in its 57-27 edge on the boards with 10 rebounds each.
Syracuse continues on the road with a match-up against Georgetown on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.
