Orange Women Off to St. John's
1/21/2005 9:08:28 AM | Women's Basketball
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QUEENS, N.Y. - The SU women's basketball team will try to even its BIG EAST record at 3-3 when it takes on St. John's on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 12 p.m. in the Carnesecca Arena. Syracuse is 10-6 overall. The Red Storm enter Saturday's tilt with at 13-3 overall and 2-3 in the league.
SU will finally see some different opponents after playing Notre Dame and Pittsburgh in four of its first five league games. SU will be going for its third "revenge" victory of the season. St. John’s took a 78-61 decision last season. The Orange has already avenged losses to Yale and Cornell. SU has been at-or-above the .500 mark six games into the league schedule just five times in the last 14 seasons.
SU fell to 2-3 in BIG EAST action with a 74-61 loss at home to #11/10 Notre Dame on Wednesday. The Orange cut a 15-point deficit to just five with five minutes left in the game, but the Irish used a 7-0 run to put the game out of reach. For the second striaght game, SU had four starters in double figures. Senior Rochelle Coleman hit for a season-high 16 points. She also dished out four assists and had three rebounds. Since joining the starting lineup versus Providence, Coleman is averaging 13.0 points, 7.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds. After scoring in double figures just once in the Orange’s first nine games, she has five double-digit efforts in the last seven games. Senior Chineze Nwagbo, the Orange’s leading scorer and rebounder, tallied 15 points and five rebounds, including a 9-of-10 performance from the foul line. A career 54.1 percent foul shooter, Nwagbo is at a career-high 65.3 percent this season. In the last four games she has hit 78.2 percent of her foul shots (18-23). Freshman Jessica Richter continued her latest scoring binge with 14 points versus the Fighting Irish. She has tallied at least 14 in four straight games and is the BIG EAST’s seventh-leading scorer during conference games with 15.2 points per game. Richter also leads the conference during league play with 2.40 three-pointers per contest. Rookie Vaida Sipaviciute notched 10 points, her second double-digit game in three outings, blocked a career-best eight shots and had a team-high six rebounds. Sipaviciute leads the league with 2.69 blocks per game.
SU and St. John’s enter Saturday’s matchup with identical 2-3 BIG EAST marks. The Red Storm was unbeaten in non-conference action with an 11-0 record. St. John’s has victories versus Pittsburgh (60-57) and Seton hall (61-50) and has lost to Connecticut, Rutgers (64-49) and Georgetown (85-73) in its last game. Kia Wright led the Red Storm against the Hoyas with 17 points. Tara Walker had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Angela Clark had 12 points. Wright is the team’s top scorer at 14.4 points per game overall and 13.0 points per contest in BIG EAST play. Clark is averaging 13.4 points per game for the season and 11.6 markers a game in league play. Walker is third on the team with 12.1 points per game overall and 9.6 per BIG EAST game. Clark is also the Red Storm’s leading rebounder with an 8.7 per game average. St. John’s is one of the BIG EAST’s top offensive teams averaging 71.3 points per game (2nd) and shooting 43.1 percent (6th). However, in league play those numbers have dipped to 55.0 points (9th) and 36.6 percent (8th). St. John’s shoots 41.9 percent from three led by Andrea Peterson’s 50.0 (20-40) and Walker’s 42.9 percent (12-28).
Syracuse leads the all-time series with the Red Storm, 24-20, including a 20-16 advantage in BIGEASTregular season play. The Orange has won six of the last 10 meetings, but has lost three of its last four games on the road in the series. SU’s last visit to St. John’s resulted in a 75-46 Orange victory. SU hasn’t won two in a row on the Red Storm’s home floor since 1989 and 1990. SJU hasn’t won two straight games against the Orange since the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
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