Orange and Hoyas Meet for Round Three
3/4/2005 9:17:27 AM | Women's Basketball
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HARTFORD, Conn. - Syracuse and Georgetown will meet for the second time in five days on Saturday, March 5 at 8 p.m. in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament at the Hartford Civic Center. The Orange (12-15, 4-11) is the 11th seed, while the Hoyas (12-15, 7-9) are the sixth seed.
It is the third meeting of the season between the Orange and Hoyas with Georgetown winning the two regular-season matchups, 70-56 at Manley Field House and 73-67 at McDonough Arena. Syracuse nearly pulled off its largest comeback in recent memory on Tuesday night versus the Hoyas. Georgetown led by 21 points, 55-34, with 10:20 left in the game, but SU mounted a furious rally to cut the deficit to just three, 69-66, with 29 seconds left. The Hoyas made four straight free throws down the stretch to seal the victory. Senior guard Rochelle Coleman keyed the comeback with 15 of her team-high 18 points in the rally. Coleman made four three-pointers, all in the second half, to move into third place on SU’s career list. She has 149 three-pointers in her four seasons. Senior forward Chineze Nwagbo also netted 14 points and a team-leading eight rebounds in the game. It was her best offensive game since scoring a career-best 22 points at St. John’s on Jan. 22. With her outburst, Nwagbo regained the Orange’s scoring lead at 10.0 points per contest. She is also the team’s leading rebounder, and ranks in the BIG EAST’s top 10, at 7.4 per game. Two other SU players hit for double figures. Sophomore Tracy Harbut and freshman Mary Joe Riley each registered 10 points. It was Harbut’s second double-digit game in the last four games. A 3.4 points per game scorer for the season, Harbut is averaging 8.0 points per game in the Orange’s last four outings, shooting 44.4 percent (12-for-27) in that span. Riley had her fourth double-digit scoring game of the season. She was 4-for-7 from the floor, including a career-best two three-pointers in three tries. Riley has made four of her last six three-point attempts.
Freshman Jessica Richter finished the regular season as the Orange’s top scorer in BIG EAST play at 11.9 points per game. Richter is the Orange’s second-leading scorer overall at 9.7 points per contest. Classmate Vaida Sipaviciute claimed the league’s regular-season blocked shots crown. She has 64 rejections overall and notched 39 in her first BIG EAST season. She is averaging 7.5 points per game overall and 9.8 points per game during the conference season. Sophomore guard Lauren Kohn made one three-pointer at Georgetown and is only three shy of 100 for her career.
The Hoyas are on a roll heading into the BIG EAST Tournament, winning six of their last nine contests, including three straight games. There shouldn’t be too many surprises on either side as the Orange and the Hoyas are playing for the second time in five days. GU survived a feverish Syracuse rally in the second half to win, 73-67. Georgetown led by 18 at the half and by as many as 21 in the second stanza. Varda Tamoulianis was one of three players to record double-doubles for the Hoyas with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Bethany LeSuer had 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Kieraah Marlow had her league-leading 13th double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Marlow is the Hoyas leading scorer and rebounder for the season at 12.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Tamoulianis is averaging 11.3 points per game overall and a team-high 11.7 points in league play. LeSueur is scoring 10.8 points per game in league competition. The Hoyas have been able jump out to big leads in the first halves of both previous meetings this season. They have outscored the Orange 80-34 in before halftime. SU owns a 89-63 advantage in the second half.
Georgetown’s win on Tuesday gave the Hoyas a 22-21 advantage all-time. Georgetown has won five straight in the series and all three meetings in BIG EAST Tournament play. The last time the two teams played in the postseason was in the first round of the 2001 tournament, an 82-75 overtime win for the Hoyas. Eleven of the last 14 meetings have been decided by less than 10 points, including three overtime games.
SLOW STARTS DOOM ORANGE IN FIRST TWO MEETINGS
BIG EAST ORANGE SLICES
• The Orange has participated in every BIGEASTpostseason.
• Syracuse won its only conference tournament championship in 1985 as the fifth seed. The Orange is the lowest seed ever to win the tournament title. Syracuse defeated fourth-seeded Pittsburgh in the quarterfinals, top-seeded St. John’s in the semifinals and second-seeded Villanova in the championship game. It is the only time that SU has played the number-one seed in the BIGEASTpostseason. The tournament was also the only one ever played on SU’s home floor at Manley Field House.
• SU has never won a BIG EAST Tournament game after losing its regular-season finale.
• This is the third time the Orange has faced the same team in the first round of the tournament that it played in the regular-season finale. The last time was also against Georgetown in 1998. The first time was consecutive games against Villanova in 1994.
• Syracuse has never beaten Georgetown in a BIG EAST Tournament game.
