Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team played an exciting, back-and-forth exhibition contest against the Syracuse University Orange on Thursday night inside the JMA Wireless Dome, which resulted in a 73-70 victory for the Orange.
 
The Dolphins led after the first quarter, were down one at halftime, and nearly staged a late-game comeback in the final quarter before Syracuse ran out the clock while leading by three points.
 
"I'm just super proud of the team. We have a lot to build on but to compete at this level against this team, I think the sky is the limit for us… 1-11 our kids came in with no fear, they were excited to be in here during shootaround, it was like we were at home… Offensively, I wanted to score in the 70s and we did that, and probably halfway through the fourth quarter I looked up and Syracuse just had too many points, so I think defensively we have to get better. Some of the matchups we have in the zone, just sometimes two people are guarding one person and we weren't matched up well, but that comes with time. So, we'll make those adjustments, but I think we have to defend better. To fight like we did inside, I couldn't ask for anything more from my players," said Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes after the game.

The Orange established an advantage on the offensive glass during the first half, compiling 17 offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes. The Dolphins seemed more focused and consistent in regards to boxing out during the second half, as they allowed just nine combined Syracuse offensive rebounds in the final two quarters.

Le Moyne shot 11-25 from behind the three point line during the 40 minutes, compared to 5-27 for Syracuse.
 
A trio of players making their (unofficial) Le Moyne debuts combined for 42 points.
 
Redshirt-freshman guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) arrived on the Heights in the fall of 2021 as an exciting prospect, but she missed the entire 2021-22 campaign due to injury.
 
On Thursday in the JMA Wireless Dome, the 5'11" point guard provided a team-high 17 points on 6-11 from the field, including 5-6 from three-point land, in 38 minutes played. Lusher also tallied three rebounds, three assists, and one steal. As one of the team's primary ball handlers going against a very athletic 'Cuse squad, Lusher's poised performance should make Le Moyne basketball fans very, very excited about the Oneida native's potential.
 
First-year guards Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) provided important scoring off the bench for the 'Phins. Goode was nothing short of outstanding on Thursday at both ends of the floor. In her first collegiate contest, albeit an exhibition contest, Goode tallied 10 points, six assists, four steals, three rebounds and just one turnover in 37 minutes played.
 
Going toe-to-toe with proven and prolific division I scoring guards in Fair, Hyman and Alaina Rice, Goode did not flinch, and she took care of the ball. In 37 minutes on the court she consistently handled Syracuse's defensive pressure and got Le Moyne into their half-court offense.
 
Linnin played 31 minutes off the bench and drilled four big three-pointers for the 'Phins. The 5'8" guard finished the game with 15 points and an impressive eight rebounds.
 
Linnin and Goode provided all 25 of Le Moyne's bench points, which dwarfed the six combined points accumulated by Syracuse's reserve players.
 
Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) was vital for the 'Phins in the interior, battling against Syracuse's big front court.
 
Roberts corralled 10 rebounds and tallied four assists in 33 minutes played.
 
Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) provided a spark for the 'Phins during the second half, and finished the game with a stat line of 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes of action.
 
Former University at Buffalo guard and 2021-22 AP All-American Honorable Mention honoree Dyaisha Fair led Syracuse in scoring with 19 points in 35 minutes of action. Fair is extremely smooth, shifty and creative with the ball, but the 'Phins defensive unit forced her into 11 missed shots on 19 attempts.

Graduate transfer Asia Strong recorded 14 points and 14 rebounds, including six offensive boards, for the Orange in 32 minutes played. Teisha Hyman finished the contest with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

On Le Moyne's first offensive possession of the game, Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) shot a three long from the left corner, but the ball fell in front of Roberts, who took one hard dribble to the right block then finished over Syracuse's Dariauna Lewis to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Dyaisha Fair drove quickly to the basket the other way, effectively drawing in the Le Moyne defense before dropping off a pass to Asia Strong for a layup.
 
Le Moyne then walked the ball up the court and ran a set play to perfection, with Lusher throwing a beautiful pass to Baker, who made a backdoor cut from the right wing to the right block. Baker jumped to catch the pass, landed on both feet and in the blink of an eye rose back up in the air to finish the layup and tie the game at 4-4.
 
The frenetic back-and-forth pace had been established from the jump.
 
Saeeda Abdul-Aziz (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen/Davidson) popped out to the top of the key and confidently drained a long two pointer from straight on with 8:19 left in the first quarter. Two possessions later Abdul-Aziz got an open three pointer on a horns set and drilled it to give the 'Phins a 9-7 advantage.
 
Le Moyne freshman point guard Kaia Goode entered the game with 6:56 remaining in the first quarter, and she would stay on the floor for the remainder of the contest.
 
Goode immediately made an impact due to her speed and ball-handling ability, which rendered Syracuse's full-court pressure ineffective.
 
Goode knocked down a three pointer with 1:58 remaining in the first half to give Le Moyne an 18-13 advantage.
 
Syracuse's clear size advantage allowed them to grab 12 offensive rebounds during the first 10 minutes, but the Orange shot just 5-24 from the field in the opening quarter.
 
Abdul-Aziz looked confident and aggressive during the first outing of the season, but as she drove to the basket in the final minute of the first quarter, she drew a foul, fell and suffered a lower-body injury that required her to be helped off the floor and miss the remainder of the game.
 
Having to play the final three quarters without Abdul-Aziz, one of the few veteran players on the roster and one of two returning starters from the 2021-22 team, could have been a fatal blow to the Le Moyne cause on Thursday, but instead the team rallied around each other and fought to win the exhibition contest for their injured teammate.
 
The 'Phins held a 19-13 advantage at the end of the first period, but Syracuse began the second frame with a lightning-quick 8-0 run. The Orange scored on their first four possessions to take a 22-19 lead, and Coach Mary Grimes called a timeout at the 8:23 mark.
 
Asia Strong hit a jumper to extend Syracuse's lead to 24-19, then left-handed freshman Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) received a pass on the left wing with 6:22 left in the second quarter and drained a high-arcing three pointer to trim Le Moyne's deficit to two.
 
Strong, who scored 10 of her 14 total points in the second quarter, scored back-to-back baskets for the Orange to give them a 28-22 advantage at the 5:00 mark.
 
With just over four minutes left in the first half, Gruss found Linnin at the top of the key, and Linnin once again hit nothing but net on her three point attempt to make it 28-25 in favor of the Orange.
 
Goode drove to her right and scored with 3:36 left in the second frame, then the fearless rookie intercepted a pass on the defensive end, drove down the center-left portion of the court, spun around her defender and scored a layup to trim Le Moyne's deficit to two points.
 
Lusher drove towards the right baseline and scored a floater to tie the game at 31-31 with 2:36 left in the first half.
 
Le Moyne regained the lead at the 1:35 mark when Goode drove into the teeth of the defense, drew the attention of Lusher's defender and then sent a pass to Lusher on the right wing. The redshirt-freshman guard released a high-arcing three pointer that dropped through the net to put Le Moyne on top, 34-33.
 
The Orange took three shots and got four offensive rebounds on their second-to-last possession of the quarter before Fair knocked down a midrange jump shot to put Syracuse up 35-34.
 
Baker scored the first basket of the second half with 9:27 on the clock by taking a hard dribble to her left from the left wing, then stopping on a dime to pull up and knock down a 12-foot jumper.
 
Roberts grabbed an offensive rebound with 7:08 left in the third quarter, and she got the ball to Lusher for an open three pointer. Lusher stepped into the shot and drilled it from straight on to give the 'Phins a 41-39 lead.
 
With 3:15 left in the third quarter, Le Moyne had the ball and Syracuse was in a zone defense. Baker got the ball at the free throw line, faced up her defender, ripped the ball through to her left, drove to her left, rose up from about seven feet, absorbed contact from the defender, drew a foul, and converted the jumper to cut Le Moyne's deficit to one.
 
Roberts – Le Moyne's tallest player – who was tasked with battling against Syracuse's tall, strong forwards in the paint all evening long, grabbed a defensive rebound with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter, then at the other end she gravitated towards the right block as Goode drove into the paint from the left corner. Goode fell on her drive, but she skillfully delivered a touch pass to Roberts from the ground, and Le Moyne's 6'1" redshirt-sophomore forward scored the easy layup to make it 50-47 in favor of the Orange.
 
Fair scored a fast break layup with 0:28 left in the third quarter to give the Orange a 54-47 lead heading into the final frame.
 
Just like the third quarter, Baker scored first for Le Moyne in the fourth quarter. Looking more comfortable by the minute, Baker was assertive and confident with the ball in her hands in the final frame.
 
With 9:28 left in the fourth quarter, Baker got the ball on the left wing and attacked Syracuse's zone. The 5'9" guard took two dribbles towards the goal, got her feet in the paint and banked in a 13-foot pullup to make it a six-point game.
 
Roberts contested a Teisha Hyman driving layup attempt with 9:16 left, then grabbed her eighth rebound of the game.
 
On the subsequent possession, Le Moyne moved the ball until they found Linnin open in the left corner.
 
Just like on Linnin's two previous long-distance makes, the ball did not touch the rim as it fell through the net. Linnin's three pointer made it 55-52 in favor of the Orange.
 
Syracuse scored on two consecutive possessions to extend their lead to 59-52.
 
Baker provided a response for the 'Phins at the other end. Le Moyne forced Syracuse's zone to shift back and forth with good ball movement, then Goode delivered a pass inside for Baker.
 
Baker had a defender on her back, about 12 feet from the basket. She took a dribble towards her left shoulder, picked the ball up, pivoted towards the baseline and stepped through to get past her defender, then finished a right-handed layup in front of the hoop to stop Syracuse's momentum.
 
Baker grabbed a defensive rebound with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter and she pushed the ball up the right wing. She sent a nice pass ahead to Goode, who caught the ball while on the run towards the left block. Goode's shot at the rim was contested by Hyman, and it missed towards the right side of the backboard.
 
Baker had continued sprinting towards the basket after sending the pass ahead, and her hustle paid dividends as the ball fell in her path.
Baker flew up towards the rim, jumping off both feet, caught the ball with her right hand and immediately put it back up on the backboard and through the net before she landed back down to earth.
 
Baker's athletic put-back finish made it 61-56.
 
Fair and Linnin traded three-point baskets midway through the fourth quarter, then Linnin assisted on a Baker and-one opportunity with 5:21 left in the fourth.
 
Le Moyne went with a five-guard lineup at times during the exhibition contest on Thursday, something that the team did not do at all during coach Grimes' first season as head coach in 2021-22.
 
Lusher hit her fourth three-pointer of the contest at the 4:53 mark to cut Syracuse's lead to 69-64. In her first time suiting up in a Le Moyne uniform, Lusher went 5-6 from beyond the arc, with her only three-point miss coming on a last-second shot before the halftime buzzer.
 
Over the next two and a half minutes the Orange would create their largest lead of the contest, a 73-64 advantage with 2:19 remaining.
 
Goode made a free throw with 1:00 left, then Gruss made two free throws with 0:28 left to make it a two-possession game.
 
Le Moyne forced a missed shot on defense, then Goode grabbed the defensive rebound and raced into the front court. Goode sent a pass to Gruss on the right wing, and Gruss found Lusher, who was trailing the play.
 
Lusher drilled her fifth three-point field goal of the game to make it 73-70 in favor of the Orange. Syracuse inbounded the ball with 10 seconds remaining and ran out the clock to claim a 73-70 in the first and only exhibition game of the season for both teams.
 
The Le Moyne College women's basketball team will begin the regular season on November 11 with a non-conference game on Ted Grant Court against Lake Erie College.