NICEVILLE, FLA. — Syracuse shot a blistering 66.7 percent from the floor in the first quarter, keying a rally that led the Orange to an 82-59 victory past Missouri in the Beach Bracket of the Emerald Coast Classic women’s basketball tournament Monday night.
The Orange made 10 of 11 shots during a six-minute stretch late in the first quarter to erase an 8-1 deficit. A three-point basket by Sophie Burrows with 1:16 left gave Syracuse its first lead of the game at 23-20 while igniting a 15-2 run.
Syracuse, which evened its record to 3-3, will face the winner of the Creighton-Wichita State game for the championship of the Beach Bracket Tuesday night.
“I was just excited on how we defended today,” said Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack. “My mind says that I am a defensive head coach but we scored a lot of points. But our kids were on another level today. We beat a good team today. We really hunkered down defensively and beat a good Missouri team.” Guard Georgia Woolley scored a game-high 17 points for the Orange, including 10 in the second half. Forward Kyra Wood added 16 points and guard Burrows collected 15 points.
Wood (12), Burrows (10) and Journey Thompson (10) accounted for 32 of 44 points scored by Syracuse in the first half. Thompson finished the game with 14 points.
Syracuse continued its torrid shooting to open the second half, hitting a sizzling 81.8 percent from the floor in the third quarter making nine of 11 shots. The Orange finished the game shooting 51.6 percent (33-64) from the floor.
Burrows, Woolley and guard Olivia Schmitt each dished out seven assists for the Orange who collected 26 – just one shy of a season high.
Missouri, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, slipped to 5-3. Sophomore guard Grace Slaughter led the Tigers with 13 points. Laniah Randle added nine points and a game-high seven rebounds. Slaughter scored the first five points for Missouri which shot 64.3 percent from the floor in the opening stanza.
Legette-Jack couldn’t stop talking about the positives in playing in the Emerald Coast Classic.
“I love this tournament,” said Leggette-Jack. “Our kids love the area. I asked the gentleman earlier who’s running the tournament (Maury Hanks) and he said he’s going to have a tournament in December next year. We would love to come back here and play in this tournament again. We are from Syracuse and there’s not a lot of warm weather up there. We have it 70 degrees in the gym every day there. This would be another great option for us next year in addition to the other tournament we are playing in. They are always going to have great teams in this tournament.”
