Bearcats beat Orange on last second shot

The Syracuse women’s basketball team (13-9, 2-6) fell to Cincinnati (10-11, 1-7) 55-54 in the Carrier Dome on Saturday night. Senior forward Iasia Hemingway led the Orange with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists, but it wasn’t enough as Bearcats senior guard Bjonee Reaves hit a jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining in the game to hand the Orange their second straight loss.

Photo: Keegan Barber

La'Shay Taft and Phylesha Bullard play a strong defense against Cincinnati.

The Orange were 24-of-64 (38 percent) from the field in the game and missed all of their three-point attempts. Syracuse did hold a 44-31 edge in rebounds. Even though the team wasn’t making shots, it scored 38 points on second chance opportunities.

As for the Bearcats, Cincinnati sophomore guard Kayla Cook led her team with 14 points. Her sophomore forward teammate Jeanise Randolph was right behind her with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The game got off to a slow start, as the two teams only combined to score 11 points in the first nine minutes of the game. The Orange led 8-3 with 11:30 remaining in the first half, but then the Bearcats started to pick things up and went on a 12-4 run. That gave Cincinnati a 15-12 lead with six minutes remaining, and the Bearcats would eventually end the half with a 27-22 lead.

SU was able to scale the first-half deficit and was only down by six, 36-30, with five minutes to play in the game. Syracuse got further back into the game about 20 seconds later after junior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas hit a jumper to pull the Orange within four.

Eventually sophomore guard Phylesha Bullard tied the game at 43, but Cincinnati took a five-point lead with just under seven minutes remaining. Hemingway came back and racked up four points on her own and gave the Orange their first lead of the second half to make it 52-50.

It was a close finish, as each side answered back and forth with shots. Cook landed a three-pointer to give Cincinnati a one-point lead, but SU junior guard Elashier Hall answered with a jumper to put the Orange back on top.

But that’s when Reaves’ late-game heroics came into play. Reaves’ bucket in the lane not only handed the Orange another Big East loss, but it also gave the Bearcats their first Big East win of the season.

Syracuse will return to Big East action on the road on Tuesday to take on Providence at 7:00 p.m.