Unranked and Doubted, Syracuse Women’s Basketball Turns Season Around
After a tumultuous offseason, Syracuse Women’s Basketball started its regular season playing sloppy basketball, which caused many on the outside to give up on the idea of a successful season. It started with a dramatic offseason that saw a dozen players leave the program, the longtime head coach, Quentin Hillsman, resign due to allegations of inappropriate behavior, and an influx of transfers that had never played together.
After a rough 2-4 start to the season, the Orange has turned things around with a five game winning streak including a pair over some tough opponents. Their most recent victory was a 40 point blowout of Clemson.
So what changed in this team from their three-game losing streak in the Bahamas to right now? Acting head coach Vonn Read says they learned how to be a team after that tournament.
“We finally have that chemistry, Read said. "We talked about it before the season started and every team has to have it, the players have to buy into what you’re doing, they have to buy into each other.”
One of the team’s most difficult opponents in the season thus far was then #18 Ohio State, a game that would result in the second win during the streak.
The 97-91 win gave the Orange the confidence boost that they needed to carry on. Junior guard, Alaina Rice, felt that it truly had that effect.
“That was a good experience and a good moment for us, I think we really needed that,” Rice said.
The 2021-2022 season was one of uncertainty for both the players and the coaching staff. Read has worked with Syracuse since the 2011-2012 season, but only as an assistant coach and then as an associate head coach. Following Hillsman’s resignation Read was asked to step up as acting head coach.
Read took the position but is not necessarily thinking about what will happen beyond this season. His mentality this season is simply focusing on what’s happening now, rather than what his future in the position entails.
“I’m not really focused on that," Read said. "When you take over as a head coach you’ve got so many different things going on that you’re trying to figure out. For me to be trying to figure out my future, that’s not something that I think about.”
Focus is something that both the acting head coach and his players emphasized. Speaking specifically about the win over Clemson, redshirt sophomore, Teisha Hyman, honed in on her focus so much that she was not even glancing at the scoreboard.
“I didn’t realize how much of a lead we had," Hyman said. "It’s just that we kept playing like we didn’t have a lead.”
The beginning of the season held struggles in a team full of transfers and new faces that were still learning how to play together. The biggest key to this turnaround is learning how to trust in each other and work together.
Hyman is one of the few non-transfers on the team and she’s noticed one thing that’s made the players work together as a team, rather than as individuals out on the court.
“I think it’s just a trust thing," Hyman said. "We’ve been getting better each day with trusting each other a little bit more, working together. After a while, you just kind of figure it out.”
While trust is a key to success for the team, leadership among players has been something that has had an impact in every practice and game.
Graduate student and guard, Najé Murray, has been a role model and motivator out on the court to her fellow teammates. Previously she played at both San Diego State and Texas Tech, but now is in the dome sporting Syracuse’s signature orange color.
Rice and Hyman both agree that she has a clear role and Hyman says there are two things that stick out to her.
“She’s very mature and she has this way about her that commands respect on the court,” Hyman said.
While Syracuse Women’s basketball has a future of uncertainties, they have come a long way from the beginning of the season. Unranked and doubted, the ladies have turned around a losing start into a five-game winning streak.
With this change in pace and environment surrounding the team, they may just continue to prove people wrong.
