It was another dominant non-conference win for Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the Syracuse Orange on Wednesday, as they took down the Colgate Raiders 88-42 to improve to 9-1 on the season and 7-0 at home.
Here are three takeaways:
Sophie Burrows is Back
It had been a real struggle for junior forward Sophie Burrows to start the season. She had been struggling to find her shot and was not meeting the high expectations that had been set.
After averaging 12 points per game last season, before the Orange
traveled to Dallas to take on SMU, she was averaging under seven points for the season for her 2025-2026 campaign.
Then, she went off in the first ACC conference game of the season, as Burrows scored 22 points on 5-for-10 shooting from three. That hot shooting continued on Wednesday as Burrows tallied 13 more points against the Raiders while making three more three-pointers.
Coach Jack praised Burrows’ recent play, noting that her leadership has been evident on the defensive end, and now, she added, it’s exciting to see that impact carry over to the offensive side as well.
Burrows is now up to averaging 9 points per game on the season after the win, which is an encouraging sign as the Orange only has two games left prior to ACC play officially getting underway.
Defensive Intensity
Colgate could get nothing going on the offensive end, as the Raiders had 27 turnovers and shot 32% from the field on Wednesday night due to the exceptional Syracuse defense.
The Orange forced 10 Raider turnovers in just the first 10 minutes alone and only surrendered five first-quarter points.
Five of those turnovers resulted in steals from graduate point guard Dominique Darius, who now has 24 on the season.
If turning the ball over was not enough, the shots that Colgate was forced to take were heavily contested.
Even though the Raiders were dealing with a lot of injuries, as six of the rostered players were out for the game tonight, holding a team to 42 points is an impressive feat for the Orange.
Coach Jack has Depth
After a quick turnaround from the game on Sunday and some long travel to get back up to Syracuse, it was interesting to see how the Orange would respond on the court.
In this game, the Orange were able to use all fifteen players on their team in the game and the depth showed.
Dominique Darius, who was the second leading scorer coming into the game, only scored five points and facilitated the offense with 10 assists.
Sophomore guard Madeline Potts, who entered the night with just nine points on the season, matched and surpassed that total with a 10-point performance. Sophomore wing Shy Hawkins added eight points, while sophomore forward Keira Scott chipped in nine.
The depth showed on Wednesday and will need to be used with the bigger opponents on the schedule in the near future.
The Orange take on Binghamton on Tuesday to look for their 10th win of the season. What were your takeaways from the win over Colgate?
