Senior Chineze Nwagbo tallies fifth double-double of the season.
SU Splits Series With 68-55 Victory at Pittsburgh
1/16/2005 2:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Senior Chineze Nwagbo earned her 13th career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while senior Rochelle Coleman tallied 15 points and tied her career high with nine assists to lead the visiting Orange to a 68-55 BIG EAST victory against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Orange avenged a 63-57 loss to Pittsburgh at Manley Field House in the BIG EAST opener two weeks ago. The Orange improve to 10-5, 2-2 in the league. The Panthers are 9-6, 1-3 in the conference.
Freshman Jessica Richter tied her career best with a game-high 18 points. Richter has led the Orange in scoring in the last three games, recording career highs in all three. Sophomore Lauren Kohn finished with 13 points. This is the first time since November 21, 2004 that SU has had four players score in double figures.
Jennifer Brown led the Panthers with 15 points and 17 rebounds. Marcedes Walker tallied 10 points all in the second half for Pittsburgh. Katie Histed finished with six points. Walker and Histed combined to score 33 points in Pitt and SU's first meeting, while the Orange held the duo to only 16 points on Sunday.
The Panthers took and early 9-8 lead, before Richter hit a jumper to give SU a 10-9 advantage. The Orange did not trail after that. Syracuse went on a 13-4 run capped by a three-point play by Nwagbo, to give the Orange its largest lead of the opening frame, 23-13 with 7:04 on the clock. Pittsburgh cut into the lead with an 8-0 run, to make the score 23-21 with 3:23 left in the first half. Coleman scored the last seven points of the half and the Orange took a 30-25 lead into the locker room. Pittsburgh was able to keep it close by outrebounding SU 27-16 in the first 20 minutes.
Syracuse scored the first three points of the second stanza to stretch the lead to 33-25. The Orange led 42-36 with 12:19 on the second-half clock before SU went on an 8-0 run, spurred by back-to-back threes by Coleman and Kohn. The 50-36 advantage was the largest of the day. Pitt came back with a 5-0 run to make the score 50-41 with 8:40 left in the game. Neither team scored for the next 3:34. SU had a 52-44 lead and used a 10-4 run to stretch the lead back to 14 points, 62-48. Syracuse's last 14 points came from the free-throw line. SU was 14-for-18 from the charity stripe in the last 2:37, Richter and Kohn each went 5-for-6 in that time.
"I thought we were really aggressive today. We got some good shots in transition," head coach Keith Cieplicki said. "Our players did a great job of recognizing who was where and executing."
SU shot 42.6% from the field (23-of-54), while the Panthers shot 31.0% (22-of-71). Pittsburgh was 2-of-17 from behind the arc (11.8%). After being outrebounded by 11 in the first half, SU finished with just a 41-45 disadvantage. SU is 10-0 when it breaks the 60-point barrier. SU is 2-0 all-time at the Petersen Events Center and the win snapped a seven game BIG EAST road losing streak.
SU hosts Notre Dame at Manley Field House on Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live by Time Warner Channel 26.
Postgame Press Conference vs. Louisville - ACC 3rd Round
Saturday, March 07
Postgame Press Conference vs. Louisville - ACC 3rd Round
Friday, March 06
Highlights | Syracuse vs. Louisville
Friday, March 06
Postgame Press Conference vs. Cal - ACC 2nd Round
Thursday, March 05
