Almost a year ago to the day, Syracuse fell to Duke by 33 points inside the Carrier Dome. The Orange shot 27.9 percent from the field that day, and scored just 19 second-half points.

“We’ve got to find a way when we play great teams to come out hard, to be competitive, and to win,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said after the Jan. 9, 2014 game. “ … You won’t see a product like this on the floor again from a Syracuse women’s basketball team, ever.”

Having proved in the past year it can compete with top-tier opponents, the No. 21 Orange (10-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) now gets a chance for revenge when it battles the No. 13 Blue Devils (10-4, 1-0) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

When reached by phone after the team’s practice in Durham, North Carolina on Wednesday, Hillsman pointed to two second-half runs in the game against Duke last year that the Orange couldn’t answer. SU junior Brianna Butler pointed to the Blue Devils’ athleticism in the paint, where the Orange was outscored 56-20.

But against Duke last year, Alexis Peterson, now SU’s starting point guard and leading scorer, played just five minutes. Do-it-all guard Cornelia Fondren played nine. Diamond Henderson, Syracuse’s third-leading scorer, was on the roster of Tennessee Tech.

“We’ve come a very long way since that game,” Fondren said.

Just 21 days after the abysmal loss, the Orange upset then-No. 6 North Carolina 78-73 on the road — what Hillsman called the biggest victory in program history — and eventually reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Earlier this season, the Orange held a 10-point lead against No. 1 South Carolina with 6:43 to go in regulation, but eventually lost by four to the Gamecocks. At the Florida Sunshine Classic in Winter Park, Florida on Dec. 19, the Orange fell to then-No. 9 Baylor by two points.

On Sunday, SU held a first-half lead but fell by 11 points to No. 4 Notre Dame, a team it lost to by 37 last year.

“It’s bittersweet,” Henderson said on Dec. 21 after SU fell, 89-76, to then-No. 18 Michigan State in its second game of the Florida Sunshine Classic.

But Hillsman and the team recognize their continuing ascent into national contention.

“It’s about our athleticism,” Hillsman said on Sunday. “We’re a little bigger. We’re more athletic at some spots … We’re a little quicker.

“I thought our kids competed at a high level. So you do take that as a positive. But obviously the biggest positive (would be) winning these basketball games.”

Published on January 8, 2015 at 1:41 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu