Georgia Tech upsets Syracuse, snaps nine-win streak

After the Orange struggled offensively, an unranked Georgia Tech snapped the Syracuse Women’s Basketball team’s nine-game winning streak after a 65-55 win.

Both teams struggled down the stretch with shooting the ball. Syracuse (15-2, 4-1), usually a good shooting team, began the game by missing 11 of their first 12 shots. After a three-point shot from Miranda Drummond at the end of the first quarter, it looked like Syracuse had finally found their rhythm.

Toward the end of the first half, the Orange went on an 18-2 run that gave them their largest lead of the game up to that point. Two back to back technical fouls called on the Georgia Tech (13-6, 3-3) bench sparked a change in energy for the Yellow Jackets where they began to come alive.

The momentum shifted toward the end of the third quarter with the Yellow Jackets closing on the Syracuse lead. Georgia Tech forced turnovers and rebounded the ball to get right back into the game. With three minutes left in the game, the Yellow Jackets regained the lead for the first time since the first quarter. A late turnover by Tiana Mangakahia sealed the victory for Georgia Tech.

Before this game, Syracuse was ranked 17th in the nation for points scored with an average of 81.1 points per game. Today, they only scored 55 points, showing how poorly the Orange offense executed today.

In the bad shooting day for the Orange, Drummond led the team in scoring with 15 points. The team was playing well when Drummond was hitting her three-pointers. Even though Tiana Mangakahia wasn’t the scoring threat she usually is, she did give her teammates opportunities, leading the team with six assists in the 29 minutes she played.

The Orange finished the game only shooting 8 of 42 from behind the arc. This performance is very similar to the last time Syracuse played Georgia Tech in Atlanta in 2017. In that game, the ranked Syracuse lost to the unranked opponent by nine. In that contest, they made only 17 percent of their three-point attempts.

This was the first conference loss for Syracuse this season, but the team will be back in the Dome Wednesday night to face another conference opponent in Miami.

The Orange will have to make more of their shots if they want to avoid being upset by a high-scoring Hurricane team.