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The Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team (15-3, 4-1) fell short in a bid for their 10th straight win, falling 65-55 at the hands of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (13-6, 3-3). SU is now 3-3 on the road this season. Syracuse struggled from three-point range the entire game and went cold from the field in the second half.
Syracuse had its worst shooting performance of the year by far on Sunday. The Orange shot just 23.9 percent from the field and were 8-of-42 from three (19 percent).
“They went to a zone and just shut us down,” said Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman. They kept us in front of them, they went to a 2-3 zone and we just could not execute in our zone.”
SU only had two players score in double figures. Miranda Drummond scored 15 points, but she only shot 3-of-10 from the field, with all three of her makes coming from deep. Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, but was as effective in the second half, after getting off to a good start in the first.
Gabrielle Cooper and Digna Strautmane were a combined 4-of-22 from three-point range and never found their groove from beyond the arc.
WATCH: Hear from Coach Q after today’s loss at Georgia Tech pic.twitter.com/LXMjdiu2Nf
— 'Cuse Women's Hoops (@CuseWBB) January 20, 2019
Tiana Mangakahia also struggled. She finished 2-of-12 from the field and only had five points, after scoring a career-high 44 versus the Yellow Jackets last year in the Carrier Dome. She did end with six points and six assists, but also had six turnovers and four fouls.
Georgia Tech’s Kierra Fletcher finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. She was all over the place and made some keys plays down the stretch for the Yellow Jackets. Elizabeth Balogun scored 20 points and had seven assists for Georgia Tech in Sunday’s contest.
“We really got to sprint back and get our defense set,” said Hillsman. We didn’t get back in transition. We didn’t have proper floor balance to stop them from attacking the rim on us, and that was the game.”
This was a very uncharacteristic performance from Syracuse. The missed open shots, were out-rebounded, and looked fatigued late in the game.
SU will look to bounce back on Wednesday as they host the Miami Hurricanes (16-4, 4-1) at 7 p,m. ET on ACCN Extra.