No matter how devastating the loss, Syracuse women’s basketball head coach Keith Cieplicki finds something positive out of every game.

But after Syracuse’s 72-53 loss to St. John’s on Saturday at Manley Field House, Cieplicki’s opening statement in his press conference highlighted the Orange’s reality that it has regressed throughout the season.

‘There have been a lot of games this year where we say it’s too bad that the final score doesn’t indicate the closeness of the game,’ said Cieplicki, who did not make players available for interviews after the game. ‘I don’t think the final score indicates that we were just really never in it. Maybe it all caught up with us. I think our players want to win. But wow, I don’t think we had it today.’

Sure, Cieplicki highlighted some of his player’s efforts, such as guard Cintia Johnson’s 12-point and center Vaida Sipaviciute’s 10-point outings. He also mentioned his team’s willingness to stick in there even when the Red Storm built a solid double-digit lead early in the game. But SU’s performance, whether it be an aberration or a reflection of this season’s direction, played much worse than it even showed during some of its recent losses.

In games against Notre Dame, Louisville and Connecticut, the Orange (9-17, 2-13 Big East) displayed surprising poise against all top 25 teams. The opposing teams clearly had the dominant hand, but SU’s play in the first half in those games suggested it had an upset in its reach.

On Saturday, St. John’s (20-6, 10-5) decided the outcome within the first few minutes. The Red Storm stormed out to a 12-4 lead in the first 4:43 minutes of the game. Against the Huskies, the Orange responded from its 12-4 deficit by holding them scoreless for seven minutes and going into halftime with a 23-20 lead.

The opposite happened, as St. John’s used quick perimeter passing to create countless shooting opportunities from 3-point range In the first half, the Red Storm shot 5-of-10 from downtown and it entered the locker room holding a comfortable 41-20 edge over Syracuse.

‘I think sometimes we settle for the first open shot,’ said Kim Barnes Arico, St John’s head coach. ‘But we knew if we really executed and moved the ball a little bit better, we would get a better shot. We would also use some of the shot clock.’

By doing that, St. John’s had four of its starters score in double figures. Tara Walker (19 points), Angela Clark (13), Greeba Barlow (12) and Danielle Chambers (10) made the Orange’s defensive responsibilities more difficult because it couldn’t focus on just one or two threats. St. John’s had zero turnovers in the first half, which limited SU’s already stagnant offense.

‘They have got a lot of threats out there,’ Cieplicki said. ‘So you have to play every body. It stretches the defense out. They came out and made a lot of shots in the first half. Whew, it felt a little bit like the old days. We were just trying to survive out there.’

Published on February 24, 2006 at 12:00 pm