Syracuse women’s basketball falls to Florida State, 67-52

The Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team (11-5, 8-5 ACC) lost on the road to Florida State (6-5, 5-5 ACC) Thursday night, 52-67. Three Orange players reached double-figure scoring, including Kamilla Cardoso (14 pts), Tiana Mangakahia (13), and Kiara Lewis (12).

Recap

Tiana Mangakahia, Kiara Lewis, Priscilla Williams, Digna Strautmane, and ACC Freshman of the Week Kamilla Cardoso started for ‘Cuse.

The Orange jumped out to a 9-2 lead early in the first quarter. The Seminoles answered with an 11-1 run to lead 13-10 at the end of the opening frame. Cardoso had five of the team’s 10 first quarter points. Syracuse went 4-of-16 from the field and 1-of-7 from three to start the game.

Mangakahia ended Syracuse’s 9+ minute scoring drought at 6:29 of the second frame, 15-12 FSU. The Seminoles answered with a 17-6 run to end the opening half with a 32-18 advantage. FSU outscored ‘Cuse 19-8 in the second quarter. The Orange shot 25% from the field and 9% from behind the arc in the first half, compared to the Seminoles 41% and 57%. Florida State outrebounded Syracuse 24-17. Cardoso led the team with five points, while Emily Engstler grabbed six rebounds and Mangakahia dished out two assists in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Seminoles grew their lead to 18 at 5:47 of the third quarter, 41-23. A 14-5 Orange run cut the FSU lead to single-digits, 46-37, at the two-minute mark of the quarter. Florida State continued to hold a nine-point advantage over ‘Cuse into the final 10 minutes of regulation, 48-39. The Orange outscored the Seminoles 21-16 in the third quarter.

Syracuse came within eight points of the Florida State lead in the final quarter but was unable to make any real stretch to regain the lead. The Seminoles outscored the Orange 19-13 in the final quarter to win 67-52. ‘Cuse did not score in the final three minutes of the game.

Stats

• Syracuse shot 30.4% from the field and 17.4% from three in the loss, compared to Florida State’s 43.9% and 58.3% shooting. The Orange committed 18 turnovers and forced 16 Seminoles turnovers. ‘Cuse tallied seven blocks in the game.
• Florida State held the advantage in points off turnovers (16-10), rebounds (39-33), bench points (16-11), points in the paint (30-22), fast break points (6-3), steals (10-8), and assists (15-9).
• Cardoso went 6-of-11 from the field and also added seven rebounds and three blocks.
• Mangakahia connected on all six of her free throw attempts. She also contributed five assists, three rebounds, and a steal.
• Lewis shot 3-of-13 from the field and 1-of-6 from three but was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. She also tallied five rebounds and a block.
• For the second straight game, Strautmane did not record a bucket. She contributed four rebounds and three steals for the Orange.
• Williams added two points, a rebound, and a steal.
• Engstler tallied seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks, three steals, and two points off the bench.
• Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi (6 pts), Amaya Finklea-Guity (2), and Faith Blackstone (1) rounded out the scoring for ‘Cuse.
• Bianca Jackson led Florida State with 18 points and five assists.

Takeaways

Positive: Free throws looked much better this game, with the team connecting on 14 of their 19 attempts.

Negative: I could get into the specifics of shooting, defense, and rebounding, but these all connect back to one thing: energy. The team looks deflated, which is why we saw more action from Washington (13 minutes) and Blackstone (9 minutes).

Unfortunately for ‘Cuse, the weekend slate doesn’t get any easier. The Orange will host No. 3 Louisville in the Carrier Dome Sunday at 1 p.m. EST on ESPN2. The contest will mark this year’s Play4Kay game.