Jones Drains Timely Free Throw for One-Point Victory at Cincinnati, 71-70

Saturday, January 10

Cincinnati, Ohio

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Cincinnati

Senior guard Chandrea Jones delivered a timely free throw to seal the 71-70 victory at the Fifth Third Arena on Saturday night.

Jones Drains Timely Free Throw for One-Point Victory at Cincinnati, 71-70

1/10/2009 9:50:31 PM | Women's Basketball

Syracuse 71, Cincinnati 70

CINCINNATI, OHIO – After trailing by as much as 16 points, the Orange (13-3, 2-1) battled back in a contest that featured eight lead changes for a thrilling one-point victory, 71-70, at Cincinnati on Saturday night at the Fifth Third Arena. Senior guard Chandrea Jones was sent to the line with seven seconds on the clock as she buried the front end of the one-and-one to ice the game.

Junior forward Juanita Ward led the Syracuse scoring charge with 18 points behind 7-of-11 from the field while junior forward Nicole Michael accounted for 16 points and six rebounds. Jones scored 12 points with four rebounds while sophomore guard Erica Morrow put forth a great defensive effort with four steals and two blocks, including a timely stop on UC’s end in the final moments of the contest. Morrow added seven points.

Junior forward Vionca Murray tallied 10 points and three rebounds while freshman guard Tyler Ash knocked down six points and gathered five boards. Sophomore guard Tasha Harris handed out six assists.

Despite having a tough time defending the Bearcats' perimeter, the Orange crushed Cincinnati with 42 points in the paint to UC’s 10. Syracuse also converted 19 second chance points to the Bearcats’ nine. Syracuse shut out Cincinnati's fast break attack but was able to convert 10 points of its own in that category.

Michael secured her own rebound and then knocked down the first layup of the contest, but the home team leaped ahead, 8-4, in the first four minutes, as the Orange missed its next seven field goal attempts within that period.

As the next four minutes unraveled, Cincinnati’s offense distributed the ball to five different scorers for a 16-point lead, 21-5, eight minutes into the first half.

After missing 13 of its first 14 shots, Syracuse knocked down three of its next five en route to a 7-0 run to slice the deficit to single digits, 21-14. Ward drilled five points, Gobuty hit a jumper and Michael and Morrow each connected on a free throw.

Tyler Ash burst onto the offense scene, scoring two consecutive buckets, but the Orange defense had difficulty defending Kahla Roudebush. Roudebush drained nine straight points along with a Jill Stephens trifecta to pull UC back to a double-digit cushion, 33-19.

The Orange battled back with an 8-5 edge in the final moments of the first half as Murray contributed four points, but Syracuse spotted the Bearcats an 11-point lead heading into the half, 38-27.

Syracuse controlled points in the paint and second chance points, 14-8 and 7-3, respectively, but SU’s 32.3 percent from the floor subdued the Orange in the first 20 minutes.

Murray connected with Jones for the first bucket of the second half while Ward converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, but Cincinnati maintained a nine-point advantage, 45-36, through the first four and a half minutes of the second half.

Michael’s layup sparked a 12-7 run to put Syracuse right back in the thick of things, 52-48. Ward powered her way to the hoop for a layup and made her way to the line to key the Orange’s comeback.

Ward and Murray teamed up to overtake the lead, 54-52, with six uninterrupted points. Shelly Bellman canned her fourth trey to take back the edge, 55-54, but Ward came on strong with back-to-back layups to reclaim the advantage, 58-55. Jones nailed a layup in between two Shanasa Sanders jump shots for the one-point lead, 60-59, with about six minutes remaining in the game.

Michael took control on Syracuse’s end, knocking down six points over the course of the next four minutes, but Cincinnati hung with the Orange the whole way as SU upheld its lead, 68-67, with two and a half minutes to go.

Cincinnati snatched back the lead, but after Jones went up strong with a game-tying layup, Morrow made a huge block on the other end to stop the Bearcats from taking back the lead. With seven seconds left, the Bearcats were whistled for a blocking call to send Jones to the line. Jones knocked down the front end for the one-point lead and that’s all it would take for the Orange to come away with its first BIG EAST road victory, 71-70.

Syracuse returns to the Carrier Dome to put its home unbeaten streak on the line against Seton Hall on Tuesday, January 13 at 7 pm.