After losing to Georgia Tech on Thursday night, Syracuse women's basketball had an opportunity to right the ship against No. 13 13 Duke at Cameron Indoor. But after a strong first quarter and beginning of the second, the Orange collapsed and let the Blue Devils run wild.
Scoring just four points from the seven-minute mark in the second to the five-minute mark in the third, the Orange allowed the Blue Devils to go on a 20-4 run, losing the lead and digging itself into a double-digit deficit. But when the Cuse was down by 13 points early in the third, it decided to make things interesting, bringing the score back to 43-41 early in the final quarter.
Each time the Orange have played a ranked opponent, they were able to stay in the game late until the final ten minutes. An almost scoreless fourth quarter against NC State, losing the lead in the third and letting Notre Dame run it up in the fourth, and most recently, being outscored 21-10 in the last frame against Georgia Tech on Thursday night. Sunday’s game was no different in terms of inconsistency. Syracuse was outscored 19-9 in the second quarter and could not regain the lead from that point on.
Duke has been known to keep teams to 50 points or less this season, doing so a total of 10 times this year. With the Blue Devils being the third-best team in opponent scoring in the country, it would hold the Orange to 50 points.
The Blue Devils had three players in double figures, with Shayeann Day-Wilson leading the charge with 16. Celeste Taylor scored 15 points and Elizabeth Balogun dropped a quiet 10, combining for 41 of the team’s 62 points, improving to 7-1 in the conference.
The loss brings the Orange under .500 in the ACC at 4-5 and gives them a 13-7 record on the season. Alaina Rice led the scoring for Syracuse with 15 points, shooting six of 10 from the field with Dyaisha Fair right behind her at 12 points. But the rest of the backcourt struggled, with Teisha Hyman and Georgia Woolley combining for nine points and seven turnovers, and Woolley having a game low minus 17 when she was on the floor.
This is a game that Syracuse will want to place in the rearview, as a bout with a struggling Virginia team awaits them ahead. The Orange take on the Cavaliers on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in the dome.