Syracuse women’s basketball falls in upset bid against No. 11 Maryland

Syracuse, N.Y. — In an early-season test against a top-15 opponent, the Syracuse women’s basketball team was unable to pull out an upset against No. 11 Maryland, losing 84-73 Wednesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome.
This was the seventh matchup all time between the Orange and the Terps, who improved to 7-0 against SU. The last time these two teams met was a year ago, when then-No. 18 Maryland escaped the dome with an 83-81 victory.
Georgia Woolley was the star of the show for Syracuse last year, scoring a game-high 21 points. In the early going Wednesday, it looked as if the senior would pick up right where she left off.
Woolley scored the first eight Orange points of the night, including two three-pointers. She finished with a team-leading 17 points. Senior Kyra Wood added a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Maryland‘s biggest advantage coming into the game was its size, with nine out of 15 players on the Terps’ listed at 6-foot-2 or above compared to just five players for Syracuse.
But the Orange was able to negate the size advantage in the early going, ending the first quarter up 20-14. The teams had four offensive rebounds each, and it was the Orange who were capitalizing on those extra opportunities with 10 second-chance points to none for the Terps. Baskets by Woolley and Kyra Wood extended Syracuse’s lead to double-digits early in the second quarter.
But Maryland, coming off an upset win against then No. 11 Duke, scored 13 unanswered points to take a 27-24 lead. The Terps’ size began to be a factor; defensively, they held Syracuse to 11 points and forced five turnovers in the second quarter. By the half, the Terps led 42-31.
The Orange hung with Maryland after halftime, and forced early turnovers in the fourth quarter to pull within four points. However, that same aggressive defense that caused turnovers also was responsible for sending Maryland to the line multiple times in the final quarter. The Terps made 12 out of 14 from the charity stripe in the quarter — 20 of 24 for the game — to pull away down the stretch.
Kaylene Smikle led the Terps with 22 points and also grabbed five rebounds. Terps guard Bri McDaniel was in attack mode throughout the game and finished with 13 points.
The Orange hosts Fairleigh Dickinson University on Sunday. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.