Orangewomen to Make BIG EAST Home Debut Saturday
1/9/2004 5:21:23 PM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse will try and build on the momentum of a 71-51 win at Pittsburgh when they host the St. John’s Red Storm on Saturday, January 10 at 7 p.m. The Orangewomen haven’t won two in a row since the opening two games of the season.
SU (4-7, 1-0) snapped a five-game losing streak at Pittsburgh. Senior guard Julie McBride led all scorers with 23 points. She moved into third place on the SU all-time scoring list with 1,358 points, displacing Holly Oslander (1,353). McBride also handed out six assists. Junior center Chineze Nwagbo recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 points and a season-best 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Lauren Kohn also scored in double figures with 14 points, including four three-pointers. Syracuse had its best three-point shooting percentage since the victory against Massachusetts, hitting 36 percent (9-of-25) from behind the arc. SU also committed only 10 turnovers, while forcing the Panthers into 22 miscues.
McBride continues to be the team leader in points and assists. She is averaging 17.6 points and 4.5 assists per game. McBride is one of four players to be among the BIG EAST’s top 10 in points and assists. She was recently named as one of 31 female candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, which honors the best Division I men’s and women’s senior in the nation. SU’s success this season has hinged largely on getting production from the senior standout. In the Orangewomen’s four victories this season, McBride is averaging 25.0 points and 5.5 assists. She is shooting 51.9 percent, including 44.8 percent from three-point range in those four games. In Syracuse’s seven losses, McBride is averaging 13.4 points and 3.9 assists per game. She is shooting just 38.0 percent overall and 27.5 percent from long range.
Kohn has come on in the last two games, averaging 16.0 points per game. She is 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range in those two contests. Kohn is second on the team at 9.6 points per game, but is averaging 11.0 points since joining the starting lineup against Hawaii. Junior Rochelle Coleman is third on the squad at 8.4 points per contest. She has started the last four games and is averaging 13.0 points in that span. Nwagbo has scored 13 points in each of the last two games, just the third time in her career she has reached double figures in consecutive games. She scored in double figures in three straight games as a sophomore in 2001-02 (Harvard, Vermont, San Francisco). For the season, Nwagbo averaged 6.6 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per contest. Junior forward Sarah Wegrzynowicz rounds out the SU starting unit. Wegrynowicz has started eight straight games, her first career starts. She is scoring 6.5 points per game and is one of four SU players averaging more than 1.0 three-pointers per game.
St. John’s enters Saturday’s game with a 6-6 overall record and a 0-1 conference mark after defeating Cornell, 68-43, on Thursday. Four Red Storm players scored in double figures led by freshman Angie Clark with 16. Kim MacMillan and Secret Stubblefield each scored 15, while Danielle Chambeers added 10 points.
Stubblefield, Clark and MacMillan are all averaging in double figures for the season. MacMillan leads the Red Strorm at 15.1 points per game. Stubblefield averages 15.0 points per contest., while Clark averages a double-double of 14.5 points and a team-best 10.2 ebounds. The rookie has been named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week four times this season, including the first three weeks of the season. She last captured the award on December 22. Shemika Stevens does most of the ballhandling. Stevens leads the Red Storm with 52 assists (4.3/game), but she has also committed a team-high 50 turnovers.
St. John’s and Syracuse have played two common opponents so far this season. Both team have matched up against Binghamton and Cornell, going 1-1. SU defeated Binghamton, 66-59, in the season-opener, while the Red Storm lost to the Bearcats, 84-81. St. John’s defeated Cornell, while the Orangewomen lost in Ithaca, 82-62.
Syracuse leads the all-time series with the Red Storm, 24-19, including a 20-15 advantage in BIG EAST regular season play. The Orangewomen have won nine of the last 12 matchups dating back to the 1994-95 season. Syracuse has won seven straight games versus the Red Storm at Manley Field House and is 13-7 overall at home against St. John’s. SU won last year’s meeting at Alumni Hall, 75-46.
