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Kyra Wood hadn’t started a game this season, but she got her chance Friday with Izabel Varajão feeling under the weather. Wood was tasked to guard Grace Boffeli, the preseason pick for Missouri Valley Conference player of the season.

Boffelli entered averaging 16.3 points and eight rebounds on over 50 percent shooting from the field. But Wood, along with a plethora of other SU players, helped keep her quiet.

The Orange smothered Boffeli and the rest of the Panthers throughout the contest. Wood helped keep Boffeli scoreless in the first half en route to a season-low eight points and just two made field goals. Wood’s suffocating defense helped Syracuse (4-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeat Northern Iowa (1-3, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference) 71-54 in its first game at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas. Offensively, Georgia Woolley finished with a game-high 20 points while Alaina Rice chipped in with 17. Dyaisha Fair tacked on a season-low nine points.

Northern Iowa’s game plan was clear: get the ball in to Boffeli, its leading scorer. But in response, Syracuse forced anyone else other than Boffeli to beat it. Starting out with Wood, Syracuse often doubled Boffeli in the post, forcing kickouts for 3s which UNI missed. It went 7-25 from beyond the arc.

Syracuse jumped out to a quick 5-0 start. Woolley drove the lane before hitting Wood at the free throw line for an easy jumper. Fair then drove down the lane, kicking it out to Rice in the corner, who drained her 3-point attempt.

Boffeli received the ball on the next possession at the top of the key. Wood stuck with her step-by-step as her opponent drove. As Boffeli rose up, Wood rejected her shot. Boffeli corralled her own rebound but was swiftly blocked by Wood for a second straight time.

On another play, with Varajão defended her this time, Boffeli tried kicking the ball out to one of her teammates but Rice intercepted and went the other way to two to put Syracuse up 9-4. Rice provided a spark for the Orange in the first quarter with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

Syracuse’s defense excelled but the absence of Fair’s scoring stood out. She was held quiet with just two field goals in the first three quarters. It was the first time she was held to single digits in her SU career, but it didn’t matter with the production of Rice, Woolley and the Orange’s other post players.

To start the second quarter, Wood missed an inside look but Alyssa Latham flew in to garner an offensive board and putback, putting the Orange up double digits. A couple minutes later, Wood gathered a loose ball and fed to Saniaa Wilson down low for an easy two points.

Toward the end of the half, Rice floated a pass to Wood, who had sealed off her defender. The junior finished through contact, and though she missed the ensuing free throw, Wood finished with a game-high eight rebounds at halftime. She’d go on to record eight points, 10 boards and five blocks.

Boffeli started to find her footing in the second half. UNI’s Emerson Green drove the lane before hitting the forward for a baseline jumper for her first points of the game. Then, after a missed Syracuse jumper on the other end, Boffeli ran the floor with Green hitting her again for consecutive buckets.

But for the rest of the way, Syracuse successfully shut Boffeli down with double teams and traps down low. Smothered by Wood and Wilson, Boffeli racked up three turnovers, including a 3-second violation in the third period.

At one point, however, UNI did come within 10 near the waning minutes of the third off of four combined 3-pointers from guards Maya McDermott and Cailyn Morgan. But as the Panthers continued to mount their ambitious comeback, the Orange did enough to keep them at arm’s length. Woolley’s ability to draw fouls was the catalyst for the Orange in the second half as she went a perfect 9-9 at the charity stripe.

After scoring to put Syracuse up 64-51 with under three minutes remaining, Wood capped off her defensive masterclass once more by blocking Boffeli in the paint. Despite Varajão being unable to start and Fair’s uncharacteristically low-scoring performance, Wood and Woolley provided the spark to lead Syracuse back into the win column.

Published on November 24, 2023 at 4:49 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22