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Against Lafayette and Central Connecticut State, Izabel Varejão felt she lacked a sense of aggressiveness. On Nov. 7 against Lafayette, Varejão went 1-for-5 from the field including two misses from 3-point range. On Friday against CCSU, she was perfect from inside the arc, but only on three attempts.

Against Coppin State on Wednesday, Varejão asserted her dominance in the paint. At the end of the first quarter, she had already scored seven points, with all of her made field goals coming from within the paint. Varejão finished with a career-high 13 points on a career-most 11 field goal attempts.

“I wasn’t demanding the ball (against Lafayette and Central Connecticut State),” Varejão said. “I would call for it, but I wouldn’t look at the basket first, I would just pass it out. And I feel like tonight it was just different because I was actually trying to score.”

With Varejão’s help, Syracuse (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conferece) bullied Coppin State (1-3, 0-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) in the paint, leading to a comfortable 80-47 win. The Orange recorded 40 points in the paint, an impressive yet season-low clip. But they held Coppin State to 18 points in the paint, tied for their season-best mark. The Orange also used an aggressive defense to shut down the Eagles on offense, who shot just under 30 percent from the field.

Defensively, Syracuse started the game aggressively. While playing man-to-man, the Orange defenders applied pressure to Coppin State’s on and off-the-ball players, pushing them away from the basket.

After SU missed its second shot of the game, Coppin State guard Faith Blackstone hauled in the rebound and pushed the ball up the court. As she approached the paint from the right baseline, Blackstone was hounded by SU guard Kennedi Perkins and eventually met by a double team from Varejão.

Blackstone dished the ball backward to Eagles’ center Laila Lawrence in front of the basket — who became open because of the double team — but Varejão recovered quickly, blocking Lawrence’s shot. Alaina Rice brought the ball down the court and set Syracuse’s offense, freeing Sophie Burrows on the left wing.

Burrows drained the first 3-pointer of the night, the first of SU’s 33 points off turnovers, leading Syracuse to start the game on a 15-2 run.

“It’s really hard to guard a team that can do both, play inside and also shoot threes,” Burrows said.

With the Orange’s lead cut to seven nearly two minutes through the second quarter, though, Coppin State looked to bring the game within two scores.

Coppin State guard Tyler Gray brought the ball up the court, but she was quickly met by Perkins near half-court. To free herself, Gray crossed the ball over from her left to right hand and quickly accelerated toward the basket. Perkins stayed with Gray, and once she reached the paint, Varejão and Alyssa Latham provided help defense.

With Latham’s long arms stretching directly in front of Gray, Gray double-clutched, allowing Perkins to block her shot from behind. The ball deflected off Gray, giving the Orange possession.

On SU’s ensuing offensive possession, Dyaisha Fair, who was benched for the first quarter due to a “coach’s decision,” received the ball on the right wing but quickly passed to an open Perkins in the right corner.

Perkins missed her 3-point attempt, but Latham corralled the offensive rebound over Lawrence. After pulling down one of her seven rebounds, Latham converted on an easy putback opportunity, giving the Orange a 21-12 lead 2:05 into the second quarter.

Latham’s putback insinuated a 10-0 Syracuse run, propelling it to a 31-12 lead near the midway point of the second quarter.

Throughout her first three collegiate games, Latham has excelled on the boards, leading SU with 9.3 rebounds and 3.3 offensive rebounds per game. Her dominance on the offensive glass has been a key reason why the Orange have outscored their three opponents 150-66 in the paint.

In the third quarter, Syracuse missed its first five shots in two minutes, but Fair forced a turnover creating an opportunity for Rice to push the ball in transition.

Rice traveled into the paint, but she kicked the ball out to Varejão at the top of the 3-point key. Varejão’s 3-pointer missed, but Rice, who successfully boxed Coppin State’s Tiffany Hammond corralled the rebound with just her right arm and successfully converted on the second chance opportunity. SU netted 14 second chance points compared to Coppin State’s eight.

Throughout the second half, Syracuse’s high-powered offense from inside and tight-knit defense proved to be too much for Coppin State to handle, as the Orange comfortably won their third game of the season.

Postgame, Rice said that defense wins games and loses games. On Wednesday, it was the Orange’s key to success.

Published on November 16, 2023 at 12:28 am

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon