Syracuse women’s basketball beats Colgate, 79-57

After a dismal trip to the Bahamas, where they lost all three games they played in the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball returned to the win column with a 79-57 blowout of the Colgate Raiders in the Carrier Dome on Sunday.

Against a weaker opponent, Orange head coach Vonn Read went deeper into the bench than last weekend, playing eight different players for 15 minutes or longer.

Chrislyn Carr led a balanced attack for Syracuse, finishing with 20 points on nine-of-15 shooting from the field. Naje Murray added 17, hitting three-of-eight from behind the arc, and Teisha Hyman bounced back from a disappointing Battle 4 Atlantis with 16 points, making seven of her twelve shots.

Syracuse made 33-of-73 (45%) shots from the floor and nine-of-23 from deep. The Orange have shot above 40% in each of its wins this season. Concerningly, they failed to outrebound the Raiders, losing the margin on the glass 43 to 40. Syracuse also struggled to get to the foul line, taking only seven attempts from the charity stripe and making four.

It seemed like a here we go again moment after Taylor Golembiewski drained a three to put Colgate in front 15-9 less than four minutes into the action. Unlike the men’s game last weekend, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone eventually settled in and started to get stops and force turnovers.

Carr scored nine points toward the end of the first quarter, and the Orange led 22-18 after ten minutes.

The Raiders hung tough for the next few minutes, but a Syracuse run was coming. The Orange scored 12 consecutive points in the late stages of the first half to extend their lead to 40-23. Carr finished a 16-point first half with a three, giving her team a 43-25 advantage going into the locker room.

After a scoreless first half, Christianna Carr heated up from deep in the third quarter. She splashed a trio of threes in the first four minutes of the second half as Syracuse extended its lead to 55-29.

The Orange were able to cruise from there, leading 64-37 at the end of the third quarter and 79-50 before Colgate scored the final seven points of the afternoon.

Syracuse forced 19 Raiders turnovers while playing their cleanest game of the season, giving the ball away eight times. This Colgate team wasn’t afraid to chuck up threes either, but they could only make nine-of-31 from deep.

Golembiewski paced the Raiders (1-4) with 13 points. Jenna Paul added 11, and the team’s leading scorer, Alexa Brodie, was held to five points on just five attempts from the field.

It was refreshing to see the Orange win again, but it was against a Colgate team picked at the bottom of the Patriot League in the preseason. Syracuse will have a much tougher task on Wednesday when 21st-ranked Ohio State visits the Dome for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

SU has shown that they can play with better teams like South Florida and Minnesota for a half but will need to put together a complete game if they want to hang with the Buckeyes. Tip-off on Wednesday is set for 8 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.