Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Better Than the Men

While the Syracuse men's basketball team stumbled through the early season, losing to every decent team they played (except possibly Virginia), the women's team quietly put together possibly the best start in the program's history.
After losing their second game to North Carolina (top ten team, no shame in that), the Orangesses went on a school-record, 12-game winning streak.
But perhaps the most impressive thing they've done so far this season was play such a close game with top-ranked Connecticut.
The Orange lost by 6 points at home, they had a 9 point lead at one point in the first half, and an 8 point advantage in the second half.
And after a 5 minute cold stretch put them down 61-51 with 3:43 to play, they fought back scoring 8 straight points to make it a game.
Unfortunately a couple go-ahead 3-pointers missed and the Orange went down, but not after putting on a great show.
New coach Quentin Hillsman may be building a powerful program that will be able to compete with UConn for years to come.
The game was played in the Carrier Dome and 4,221 people showed up, a fraction of the crowd at your typical men's game, but a record for the women's team.

Syracuse women's basketball coach Quentin Hillsman reacts to a missed shot against UConn
Fantasia Goodwin

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