Mangakahia Comes Alive in Fourth Quarter to Lead No. 15/14 Orange Past UCF

Saturday, December 22

St. Petersburg, Fla.

7:30 PM

Syracuse University

UCF

Mangakahia Comes Alive in Fourth Quarter to Lead No. 15/14 Orange Past UCF

12/22/2018 9:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Guard Tiana Mangakahia broke out for 13 points in the fourth quarter and engineered the Orange's late-game comeback against a pesky UCF squad on the final day at the St. Pete Shootout Saturday night. The No. 15/14th-ranked Syracuse women's basketball team defeated UCF by a score of 57-52 to close out 2018.

Syracuse is now 11-2 overall, and the victory extends the Orange's winning streak to five games.

One day after asserting their dominance from the opening tipoff in the win over Duquesne, Mangakahia and the Orange were plagued by a slow start against UCF. The Knights opened up a six-point lead and limited Syracuse to nine points in the first quarter.

The Orange clawed back and would enter halftime up by two, but the Knights outscored Syracuse in the third quarter, 17-12, and held the lead at the start of the fourth.

Fortunately, Mangakahia found her shooting stroke just in the nick of time. She scored all 13 of her second-half points in the fourth quarter, helping Syracuse rally past the five-point deficit it faced at the beginning of period.

The Orange's point guard did the majority of her damage from the charity stripe, connecting on all nine of her free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter. Down 46-41, Mangakahia's hot hand sparked a 16-6 run that Syracuse used to close out the game.

The native of Brisbane, Australia, finished with a game-high 15 points and handed out eight assists. She also came up with a team-high four steals, two of which she recorded in the final quarter when Syracuse held UCF to eight points.

Forwards Digna Strautmane and Miranda Drummond each scored 10 points despite major shooting struggles. Strautmane was 4-of-11 from the field, and Drummond finished 3-of-15 overall, hitting two three-pointers to extend her streak of consecutive games with a made three-point shot to 24.

Guard Gabrielle Cooper carded a team-leading seven rebounds, while forward Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi was a force in the paint with two blocks.

2018 is now in the books for the Orange, and the team does not return to action until the New Year. Syracuse kicks off 2019 against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents on the road, playing at Clemson on Jan. 3 before facing Virginia Tech on Jan. 6.