Orange Goes for Seventh Win Versus Sacred Heart
12/26/2004 7:28:45 PM | Women's Basketball
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FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Syracuse women's basketball will try and stop its two-game losing streak when it travels to Sacred Heart on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 1 p.m. The Orange needs just one more victory to eclipse its win total from last season.
For the first time in 2004-05, Syracuse has lost two straight games. SU lost its last game, 48-35, at home to Auburn. It was the fewest points the Orange has scored since a 54-33 loss to Notre Dame last March. Sophomore Lauren Kohn led the team with 12 points, while freshman center Vaida Sipaviciute tallied a career-high 10 points in a career-high 32 minutes. SU shot a season-low 24.6 percent for the game. Senior Chineze Nwagbo, Syracuse’s leading scorer, was held scoreless for the first time this season, going 0-for-7 from the floor. The Orange offense has gone into hibernation in December. After averaging 63.2 points per game in an unbeaten November (4-0), Syracuse has scored just 56.2 points in December en route to a 2-3 month. SU has scored less than 50 points in its last two games, a 60-49 loss to Kent State and the Auburn loss. After playing only two games since Dec. 11, the Sacred Heart contest kicks start the schedule into overdrive. The Orange plays four games in nine days, including the first two BIG EAST games of the season.
Syracuse’s trip to Sacred Heart is its third trip to Connecticut this season. SU is 2-0 in its first two trips, defeating Yale and Quinnipiac. Not only were the wins in the same state, they were by the same score. SU defeated both teams by a 65-61 score. After its game with the Pioneers, the Orange has two trips to Connecticut left on the docket. SU plays at Connecticut (Hartford Civic Center) on Feb. 19. The BIG EAST Tournament will also take place at the Hartford Civic Center from March 5-8.
Sacred Heart enters Tuesday’s game with a 3-5 record. The Pioneers lost their last game, 78-43, on the road at Richmond. Nicolle Rubino led the squad with 12 points. She was the only Pioneer in double figures. SHU struggled from the field, going 17-for-65 overall (26.2 percent) and 4-for-21 (19.0 percent) from three-point range. For the season, Sacred Heart has three players averaging in double figures. Amanda Pope leads the Pioneers at 14.3 points per contest. She is also the club’s top rebounder at 7.5 boards per game. Rubino is next at 13.3 points per game. She is the Pioneers’ best three-point shooter with 14 makes in 44 attempts (31.8). Kerri Burke is third in scoring with 11.9 points per game and leads Sacred Heart with 4.5 assists per game. As a team, the Pioneers shoot 36.8 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from three-point range and 72.9 percent from the free throw line. The Pioneers have been outrebounded by an average of 5.3 boards per game.
Tuesday’s game is the first-ever meeting between Syracuse and Sacred Heart in women’s basketball. SU head coach Keith Cieplicki has never coached against the Pioneers.
TOUGH TO SHOOT AGAINST
Auburn shot 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from three-point range against the Orange. For the season, SU ranks third in the BIG EAST in three-point field goal percentage defense at 25.3 percent. SU is fourth in the conference overall, allowing opponents to shoot just 35.3 percent. Yale is the only team to shoot at-or-above 40.0 percent this season (40.0).
LENDING A HELPING HAND
The Orange registered assists on 12 of its 15 field goals versus Auburn. For the season, Syracuse has had assists on 60.9 percent of its baskets with 123 assists on 202 field goals. SU has not assisted on 60 percent of its field goals for an entire season since the 2000-01 campaign when the team had 424 assists on 651 field goals (65.1 percent). Eleven of SU’s 12 players have registered at least one assist this season. Six players have at least 10 assists led by Krystalyn Ellerbe’s 26.
