SU women’s basketball comes back with blowout win over Boston College

In the 52^nd matchup against Boston College, the Syracuse Women’s Basketball team came out with a dominant 96-69 win. This victory gave the Orange its eighth win in the Carrier Dome this season.

Syracuse was the first to put points on the board after a layup from Amaya Finklea-Guity and a three from Miranda Drummond to give the Orange an early 5-0 lead. Tiana Mangakahia was efficiently feeding the ball to her teammates finishing the first quarter with seven assists.

Most of Mangakahia’s passes went to Drummond, who hit 4 of 5 from three-point range in the first. The commanding play from both Mangakahia and Drummond gave Syracuse a 24-15 lead to end the quarter. There was a point in the first that the Eagles led by one, but it was short lived once Drummond’s shooting got hot.

Freshman Emily Engstler started the  second quarter with an assist, a steal and a three-pointer. Mangakahia and Drummond continued what they started in the first quarter; Drummond ended the half with a new season-high of three-pointers after making six. Syracuse was able to extend its lead to as many as 21 in the half. The Eagles had no answer for the hot Syracuse offense.

Boston College was finally able to get something going in the third quarter, starting with a 6-0 run. The success from the Eagles came from multiple turnovers and missed rebound opportunities from the Orange. Boston College figured out how to defend against the three-point shot, but Syracuse just found a way to score quickly inside the paint and in transition.

Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, whose nine-point first-half performance was overshadowed, really came up big for the Orange in the third quarter on both the offensive and defensive boards. The Orange was able to score their first points of the quarter because of a block from Djaldi-Tabdi, who finished with six rebounds and two blocks. Though the Eagles defended the perimeter better, it did not alter how effective the Orange offense was. Syracuse ended the third with a 20-point lead.

In the final quarter, the Orange continued to score in transition and get Djaldi-Tabdi the ball. The paint plays opened up for Syracuse the second half, as they finished with 52 points from inside.

The significant lead gave the Orange the chance to get other players in off the bench. When Boston College looked like they had any signs of life, players like Isis Young came in and hit a three to extend the lead. Drummond was able to score a team-high and new season-high 24 points after a lay-up to close out the game.

Drummond ended the game shooting 6 of 9 from the three. When the scoring slowed down from Drummond, Djaldi-Tabdi took over, finishing with 16 points. As a whole, the Syracuse offense made a season-high 60 percent of their shots from the field. This high-scoring game was part of the game plan for Syracuse Head Coach Quentin Hillsman.

“We didn’t want to play this game down in the 70s, we wanted to get into the 80s and obviously we did that,” Hillsman said after the game. “We scored the ball well and shot 60 percent from the field. That’s what you want.”

Emma Guy for the Eagles led all players on the court with 30 points, but her effort was outshined by the play of Drummond, Djaldi-Tabdi and Mangakahia.

The next opponent for Syracuse is No. 9 NC State in the Dome on Wednesday. This will be the eighth-ranked team Hillman and his team play this season.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.