Orange Ends Non-Conference Season with 60-41 Win Against Cornell
12/30/2004 3:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE N.Y. – Senior Rochelle Coleman tallied a season-high 14 points and senior Chineze Nwagbo recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Orange to a 60-41 victory against the Cornell Big Red on Thursday, December 30 at Manley Field House. The Orange improves to 8-3, while Cornell is 1-7.
In addition to her double-double Nwagbo dished out a team-high four assists and Coleman had three helpers on the day. Freshman Jessica Richter finished with 11 points and seven boards. Freshman Amanda Adamson chipped in six points and sophomore Lauren Kohn contributed five points. Freshman Vaida Sipaviciute tallied a career-high seven blocks, to go with her three points and three boards. Sipaviciute has 13 blocks in the last two games, after registering six at Sacred Heart on Tuesday. The Syracuse bench scored a season-high 32 points.
Amy Lyon led the Big Red with 13 points, while Claire Perry had six points and eight rebounds. Morgan Dickens finished with eight points.
The Orange scored the game's first 10 points, while holding Cornell scoreless for the first 6:18 of the game. Nwagbo hit a jumper with nine minutes left in the opening half to give SU a 20-8 lead. Cornell scored the next five points to cut the lead to 20-13 with 3:19 on the first-half clock. SU closed out the half with a 9-0 run to take a 29-13 halftime lead.
Hillary Seidel made the score 39-25 after hitting a three-pointer for the Big Red with 14:46 left in the game. The Orange went on an 11-0 run over the next 3:11, which included three in a row from behind the arc. Richter tallied six points on the run, while Coleman had five. The Orange held a 50-25 lead, its largest of the game. SU led by at least 20 for 12:53 of the final 20 minutes. The Big Red cut the margin to 17 with 37 seconds on the clock, 58-41, before senior Sarah Wegrzynowicz made the final basket of the day.
The Orange avenged last season's 82-62 loss at Cornell and is 10-3 all-time versus the Big Red. Syracuse has recorded its eighth non-conference victory for the first time since the 1989-90 season.
The Syracuse defense allowed a season-low 41 points and limited the Big Red to 23.7 percent shooting. SU also forced 25 Cornell turnovers.
Syracuse opens the BIG EAST schedule on Sunday, January 2, 2005, as SU hosts Pittsburgh in Manley Field House at 1 p.m.
