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After Syracuse’s narrow loss to the University of California Sunday, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack was emotional. She closed her eyes and wiped away tears, taking an eight-second pause before continuing.

She applauded her players’ effort to stick with a strong Atlantic Coast Conference team, despite falling short. But that’s what the Orange have done all season — fall short. They’ve struggled to do anything consistently and entered their bout with the Golden Bears 13th of 15 teams that will make the ACC Tournament.

On Sunday in Berkeley, Syracuse (10-15, 4-10 ACC) was downed 75-69 by Cal (21-6, 9-5 ACC). The Orange took a 35-34 lead into halftime after holding the Golden Bears’ top two scorers — Ioanna Krimili and Lulu Twidale — to three first-half points each before relinquishing the advantage in the second half. Even though SU stayed put in the ACC standings due to Miami and Pittsburgh losing, the loss puts it in a precarious position with four games left.

“We’re going to stay true to the lessons that we’re learning, and we’re going to keep fighting,” Legette-Jack said. “Something is going to happen miraculously at the end, I just know it. But this one hurts a little bit.”

Despite Legette-Jack’s words, it would take just that — a miraculous comeback down the stretch — to give SU any chance of resurrecting this season.

Syracuse plays No. 12 North Carolina and No. 13 Duke in its next two matchups. Beating either squad will be tough. The Orange are 0-4 in ranked games this campaign and haven’t looked competitive in three of the four contests. So, a victory against the Golden Bears would’ve been huge to give SU some breathing room in the conference.

With six minutes left, it looked like SU had a chance. The game was tied 61-61. But the Golden Bears scored five straight points, capped by a Twidale 3 from the left corner — part of the sophomore’s 10-point second half — to take a 66-61 advantage.

From there, despite Syracuse pulling within three, Cal closed out the game via clutch layups and makes at the free throw line to dash the Orange’s hopes.

Entering the contest, the Golden Bears had double Syracuse’s wins. But they haven’t lived up to expectations lately. After peaking at No. 18 in the AP Poll, Cal had dropped three of its last five games, a promising trend for SU. Early on, it took advantage.

The Orange completely shut down Krimili, who scored just three points in each half. They also held one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country to 5-of-19 from distance. While Kayla Williams scored 21 points, Cal’s bench — which possesses no players averaging over 3.1 points per game — could only muster seven total points.

Syracuse trailed just 20-17 after one quarter, taking advantage of Krimili’s struggles and multiple Cal turnovers. But the Golden Bears still had the upper hand. They leaned heavily on their starting lineup of five double-digit scorers. All of them recorded at least three points in the first.

The game continued to seesaw back and forth in the second. Whenever Syracuse scored, Cal responded. SU saw spurts of success, like forcing three straight missed shots and two turnovers midway through the second. But it couldn’t pull away.

Williams put the Golden Bears on her back, accumulating 13 first-half points. Georgia Woolley stuck with her, as she was fouled twice and went 4-of-4 at the charity stripe to take a 35-34 lead at the break.

The battle of the two guards continued in the third quarter. With Krimilli and Twidale still nonexistent, Williams was tasked with dueling Woolley’s game-high 23 points. Both flushed shots from the field for the first buckets of the half, as the game was tied 39-39 three minutes in.

But then, Cal produced a 7-2 run due to the Orange’s miscues. Twidale finally broke through with a triple from the top of the key — just her second made shot. Williams followed with an immediate steal and wide-open layup to make it 46-41.

Out of a Syracuse timeout, it kept beating itself. Wood received two passes inside, but she misfired layups both times. This was part of an inconsistent 5-of-12 shooting day for the senior, who’s become one of SU’s best post players this season. Her miscues fueled the Golden Bears, as they took their biggest lead of the game 51-45 after Twidle knocked down a pair from the charity stripe.

But Syracuse stuck around due to its free throw shooting. Cal’s lack of discipline haunted it toward the end of the quarter, as it fouled Shy Hawkins and Saniaa Wilson multiple times. The duo converted 7-of-8 attempts, part of SU’s 16-of-17 clip from the line. The Orange trailed 54-53 at the end of the third after Woolley drained a wide-open 3 from the right corner.

In the fourth, both teams continued to chip away. Sophie Burrows drilled a trey from the left wing to tie the game 56-56 — her first made shot since the first half. Both teams embarked on 5-0 runs to even the score again 61-61 with five minutes left.

In the last five minutes, although Syracuse contended down the stretch, it fell to Cal, jeopardizing its ACC Tournament chances.

“With these (four) games that we have left, I think that they want to play more basketball together to really now understand what it feels like,” Legette-Jack said.

But that feeling should’ve been satisfied on Sunday. This game could’ve been a get-right opportunity against a slipping team. Instead, it was another loss in a disappointing campaign.

Published on February 16, 2025 at 8:24 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99