Twelve days ago, when Notre Dame visited the Carrier Dome, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman called his team’s 30-point loss to the Irish a missed opportunity. SU failed to beat a top-5 team for the third time this season and missed out on the chance to record a win against a ranked team at home.

On Saturday, the Orange had a chance to redeem themselves against the Irish. Syracuse had already defeated Miami the day before in a rematch of a game that it dropped at home earlier this season and came into the contest against Notre Dame on a four-game winning streak. But just like their first matchup of the season on Feb. 25, the Orange were out-matched.

It took just one quarter for the No. 4 Irish (29-3, 14-2 Atlantic Coast) to jump out to a double-digit lead against No. 18 SU (24-8, 11-5) en route to a 91-66 win in the semifinals of the ACC tournament on Saturday. The Orange shot just 36.4 percent from the field and were out-rebounded by 15 by the physically-superior Irish. Tiana Mangakahia paced SU with 14 points but had her worst game of the tournament, while Gabrielle Cooper scored 12 and made at least three 3-pointers for the third-straight game.

“They did a good job getting the ball to the high post and getting the ball out to the perimeter and attacking us off the bounce,” Hillsman said. “They did a good job. That’s what good teams do. Whatever you give them, they capitalized on it and they did.”

Jessica Shepard began the game the same way she spent most of the first matchup, by grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back up for 2. The Orange quickly responded with their own forte, nailing back-to-back 3s to jump ahead 8-5 and prompting an Irish timeout. Another 3, an impressive step-back from the left wing by Miranda Drummond for her second of the day, gave SU a 13-9 lead.

But sparked by an Arike Ogunbowale jumper, Notre Dame tallied eight straight points, giving it a lead that it would never relinquish. While Drummond hit her third 3-pointer of the opening quarter, the Irish extended their run to 22-8 by the end of the period to give it a 31-21 lead. The streak was propped by the play of their frontcourt, which dominated similarly to how they played on Feb. 25.

Twice during the second period, Digna Strautmane made shots to close SU’s gap to 7. But a three-minute stretch by the Irish padded their lead to double-digits by the end of the half. Backup guard Jackie Young got to the paint twice for layups before Ogunbowale found Shepard for a basket that gave Notre Dame a 13-point lead into halftime.

“Games you don’t make shots and you don’t shoot a great percentage, you’re going to have a hard time winning that game,” Hillsman said. “We need to shoot 40-some odd percent to have a chance to win this game. We were at 30 percent again, and we can’t shoot the ball that way against a really good team like this. “

Forward Brianna Turner, who scored 22 points against the Orange earlier this season, made a layup two minutes into the third quarter that pushed the Irish’s advantage to 20. SU called a timeout seven seconds later, which allowed for its last big run of the game.

Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi kicked it off with two layups in a row before Turner knocked down two free throws. Mangakahia knocked down a short jumper and found Cooper on the ensuing possession though, cutting Notre Dame’s lead to just 13. Cooper stole the ball from Ogunbowale a minute later and found Mangakahia on the fast break, but that was the closest the Orange got the rest of the contest.

Shepard made a layup, followed by a 3-pointer by the conference’s leading 3-point shooter, Marina Mabrey. Then, an and-1 by Young. SU’s momentum was gone, as was its chances of making a comeback. By the end of the quarter, Notre Dame’s lead was its highest of the day to that point, 24. The Irish extended their lead to as much as 31 in the fourth quarter en route to advancing to the ACC tournament final for the sixth straight year.

“We missed a lot of shots, but you can’t miss shots against a team like Notre Dame,” Hillsman said. “… This is a tough tournament. It’s the toughest tournament in the country.”

The Orange will now have to wait until Monday, March 18 for the NCAA tournament selection show. In the tournament selection committee’s most-recent ranking of the top 16 teams, SU was named the No. 15 overall seed. If it earns a top-16 ranking on the 18th, Syracuse will host the first two games of the tournament at the Carrier Dome, something Hillsman has called a “goal” of SU’s all season.

“I mean, we’ve got a 10 RPI. And I think, what, a 3 strength of schedule,” Hillsman said. “If we don’t (get to host NCAA tournament games), I mean, they’re going to have to change the whole criteria.”

Published on March 9, 2019 at 4:22 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34