Syracuse women's basketball picked up a resounding victory against Wagner on Sunday night, beating the Seahawks 83-53. With the win, the Orange pick up their eighth win of the season and improve their home record to 7-0.
Dariauna Lewis was the star of the show for the Orange. Lewis recorded yet another double-double, continuing her trend of being a contributor on both ends of the court.
The Alabama A&M transfer spoke about how it feels to be such a key contributor for her team on both ends of the court.
“It feels really, really good. Everything I do is just coming in and trying to be a good teammate,” said Lewis. “I play with a chip on my shoulder, so I know I have to get back on the boards for us to be successful.”
Syracuse’s bigs were sensational in the victory. Saniaa Wilson came off the bench and matched Lewis’ point total with 13. She also recorded nine rebounds in just 14 minutes of play.
Wagner’s defense struggled immensely in the first quarter, giving Syracuse the quick start that Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack has wanted to see from her team.
Wagner’s leading scorer, Alex Cowan, got off to a slow start, having a difficult time scoring on Syracuse’s defense. Her teammate, Kem Nwabudu, was able to compensate for her lack of productivity, giving the Wagner offense some quality minutes in the first half in particular.
While Alex Cowan eventually found her groove, it wasn’t enough to propel her team to victory. Cowan and Nwabudu were the only two players that recorded more than five points out of the 12 players that got on the court for the Seahawks.
Contrary to what the lopsided final score may suggest, Coach Legette-Jack still was not satisfied with her team’s consistency.
“We didn’t put a full game together for sure,” said Legette-Jack. “I didn’t like the way we started in the first five minutes of the game. I certainly didn’t like the way we played the third quarter, and so we’re going to have to get more mature.”
Coach Legette-Jack has talked about putting two halves of basketball together recently after the team’s failure to do so in the last few games. While it may look like the team did so against Wagner from a fan’s perspective, Coach Legette-Jack still wants her team to do better and be more consistent.
The Orange open ACC play on December 18 when they face Wake Forest in the JMA Wireless Dome. Tipoff is set for 12:00 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network.