@CanesWBB Falls to Syracuse, 57-51

Syracuse5751No. 16/17 Miami

TEAM STATS
FGs	20-70	19-57
3FGs	4-27	5-20
Free Throws	13-18	8-10
Rebounds	44	43
Blocks	1	2
Steals	13	3
Assists	8	11
Turnovers	15	26

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
	POINTS			REBOUNDS
	Peterson	16		Day Fondren	7
	Motley	16		Hof	7
	ASSISTS			BLOCKS
	Peterson Fondren	3		Day	1
	Motley	4		Hof Davenport	1
	3FG			STEALS
	Slim	1-2		Peterson	4
	Cornelius	2-3		Thomas	2

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s basketball team fell to Syracuse Monday night at the BankUnited Center, 57-51.

Junior guard Adrienne Motley led No. 16/17 Miami (18-4, 6-3 ACC) with a co-game-high 16 points. Despite the defeat, the Hurricanes limited the Orange to 20-of-70 shooting (28.6 percent) from the field, including 4-of-27 (14.8 percent) from 3-point range.

“Syracuse is a top-25 team whether they’re in the polls or not,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “They have played a great schedule and they are very, very good.”

After Miami opened the game with a 7-2 lead, Syracuse (16-6, 6-3 ACC) outscored the Hurricanes 16-4 the rest of the period and led 18-11 through 10 minutes of action.

In the second session, Miami went on a 7-0 run while forcing the Orange into eight-straight misses. Junior guard Jessica Thomas capped the run with a 3-pointer to even the score at 22 with 3:05 left in the first half.

Syracuse picked up its play offensively down the stretch and would go on to take a 30-24 lead into the locker room.

After the Orange extended its lead to eight to begin the third quarter, Motley took over for the Hurricanes. The Newport News, Va., native scored seven-straight points in under two minutes to pull Miami within one.

The run would not end there for the Hurricanes, though. Back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman guard Laura Cornelius helped Miami take the lead and the Hurricanes extended it from there. Overall, it was a 15-4 run by the Hurricanes that included nine points by Motley and gave them a 39-36 edge with 59 seconds left in the period. A bucket by Syracuse to beat the buzzer made it 39-38 with 10 minutes remaining.

Down by four with three minutes to go, forward/center Emese Hof scored a basket and then Cornelius connected on a pair of free throws to even the score at 49 with 1:13 to go, drawing a roar from the crowd.

After being held scoreless for three minutes and 25 seconds, the Orange scored with 45 ticks remaining to take a lead it would not relinquish. Hof and Cornelius, both freshmen from the Netherlands, scored the Hurricanes’ final eight points, but it was not enough, as Syracuse shot 5-of-6 at the free throw line over the final 32 seconds.

“It was still a very winnable basketball game, and that is a characteristic of this team that I love; they hung in there on just a tough night,” Meier said. “It was just hard. We hung in and hung in and hung in and created a winnable game out of a very non-winnable game, the way we were playing.  It’s a shame that we didn’t just finish that in the last two minutes.”

Miami sophomore forward/center Erykah Davenport led all players with eight rebounds, her third-most this season and her top total since grabbing nine at Loyola Chicago Nov. 21, 2015.

Junior guard Alexis Peterson paced the Orange with 16 points, though Miami held her to 5-of-15 shooting (33.3 percent) from the floor. The Hurricanes also limited senior guard Brianna Butler, Syracuse’s second-leading scorer behind Peterson, to nine points on her fourth-lowest shooting mark of the season, 15.8 percent (3-of-19). Senior guard Cornelia Fondren added 10 points for the Orange.

“We gave a lot of great effort on the defensive end,” Meier said. “If I want to find something positive, that’s easy to find.  We just got a full effort on the defensive end. Our defense was very, very good tonight.”

Miami will return to the court Thursday night at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., when it takes on Boson College at 7 p.m.

For more information on the University of Miami women’s basketball team, follow @CanesWBB.

MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES

·         For the 11th-straight game, Miami’s starting lineup consisted of Hayes, Hof, Motley, Thomas and Woods.

·         The all-time series between the Hurricanes and Orange is now 18-8 in favor of Miami. The road team has won each of the last six meetings not played on a neutral court.

·         Meier is now 277-183 in her 15 seasons as a head coach, including 201-138 in her 11 years at Miami.

·         In the second half, the Hurricanes limited the Orange to 9-of-35 shooting (25.7 percent) from the floor, including a 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) mark from beyond the 3-point line.

·         Motley has recorded over a dozen points in 18 of 22 games this season.

·         Motley, who eclipsed 1,250 points as a Hurricane, has scored over 15 points in seven-consecutive games.

·         Woods surpassed 700 points in her career.

·         Davenport has 15 rebounds in the last two games after totaling 17 over the prior five games (3.4 average).

·         Davenport also reached 250 points as a collegian.

·         Thomas has tallied 12 rebounds over the past two games after grabbing 11 total boards in the previous three outings (3.7 average).

·         Cornelius reached both 50 rebounds and 50 field goals made at Miami.