Orange Holds Off Purple Eagles

Friday, November 19

Manley Field House

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Niagara

Chineze Nwagbo led SU with 14 points in the season-opener.

11/19/2004 9:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

SU 62, Niagara 57
SU Post-Game Quotes

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Senior forward Chineze Nwagbo scored 14 points to lead the Syracuse women's basketball team to a 62-57 victory versus Niagara on Friday night at Manley Field House. Freshman center Sara Antolick tallied 10 points and eight rebounds in her first collegiate contest.

Sophomore forward Tracy Harbut scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a career-high seven assists. Harbut also helped shut down Niagara's sharp shooter Eva Cunningham in the second half, holding her to only one point in the second frame. Freshman guard Jessica Richter started her college career with eight-points, four assists and four-steals against the Purple Eagles. Senior guard Rochelle Coleman chipped in seven points for the Orange and was also part of the second-half defensive effort on Cunningham. Junior Jill Norton scored six points on 3-of-3 shooting and snared seven rebounds in 11 minutes of action. Nwagbo finished with eight rebounds on the night.

The first half featured four ties and four lead changes. The Orange led by as many as nine early and Niagara led by seven late in the opening frame. The Orange went on a 10-0 run early in the game, Nwagbo netted six points during the run, giving SU a 15-6 lead with 11:38 left in the opening stanza. The Purple Eagles came back with a 9-2 run to take a 26-19 lead with 4:53 remaining. The Orange fought back to take a 34-32 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Syracuse took the lead for good with 4:29 left in the game on a fall away three-pointer by Coleman to beat the shot clock. From that point, the Orange went on a 9-0 run to bring the score to 61-53 with 1:10 left to go. Coleman started the run with her trey and finished it by nailing two free throws to give the Orange the eight-point lead. Nwagbo had eight of her 14 points in the final half.

Syracuse dominated in the middle, outscoring Niagara 40-14 in the paint and out-rebounding the Purple Eagles, 52-33.

Cunningham led the Purple Eagles with 15 points and five assists. Jessi Tomasin and Shaunna Ambrose finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Syracuse shot 11-21 in the second half, while Niagara managed only 7-30 from the field.

Syracuse is now 22-12 all-time in season openers. SU head coach Keith Cieplicki is 8-0 in his career.

The Orange travels to Yale on Sunday, Nov. 21 for a 2 p.m. tip-off, before hosting the Jaspers of Manhattan College on Nov. 24 at 12 p.m.