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Tiana Mangakahia stood at the top of the key and surveyed the floor. She’d already drilled two 3-pointers from that same spot, on the other end of the court, in the first half. This time, she drove middle with her right hand before wrapping a pass behind her back.

What was intended to be a dump-off to a cutting Kamilla Cardoso scooted past her and the defense on two hops to Priscilla Williams, on the left wing. The freshman lifted the ball from her knees to a shooting motion before hoisting a high-arcing 3-pointer. The pass that wasn’t intended for her resulted in another make for Williams.

While Cardoso mirrored her average, with 17 points and eight rebounds, and fifth-year Mangakahia notched her first double-double in 1,030 days, Sunday’s game belonged to Williams. The Orange freshman paced No. 24 Syracuse (6-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) to a 99-64 win over Miami (6-5, 3-5), the program’s largest margin of victory in conference play since 2016. Williams scored a game-high 26 points on a perfect nine-of-nine from the field and six-for-six from 3 — both tying program records — despite this being SU’s first game in 28 days after going on pause due to COVID-19.

“We’ve learned how to be unselfish with the ball,” Williams said. “So we’re all going to be happy. Whether it’s me having a good night or one of our post players or any other player.”

In SU’s last game against Boston College, the final one ahead of SU’s unexpected long pause, Williams showed glimpses of success. She scored 14 points in 14 minutes after notching just 18 total in Orange’s first four games against Division I opponents. The freshman created steals and savvy cuts, leading to one 3-pointer and multiple layups off rebounds.

Head coach Quentin Hillsman said Friday that his team trained vigilantly during SU’s longest midseason hiatus since 1978-79. Following a Mangakahia make from straightaway to open the scoring against the Hurricanes on Sunday, Williams showed no signs of fatigue, with a pure 3-point stroke that gave Syracuse the lead back at 6-4. That would be as close as Miami could keep it.

“Our coaches kept us all on the same page,” Williams said. “I just shot a lot in the gym. I worked on my conditioning and just certain things so that I could be ready to play.”

Priscilla Williams catches a rebound against Miami. Courtesy of Dennis Net, Syracuse.com

Following a timeout by Miami head coach Katie Meier after the Orange jumped out to an 18-8 start, Williams engineered a nine-point spurt that forced Meier to request another 30-second break. First, it was the McDonald’s All-American doing it herself on the drive. Then, she swung a cross-court pass to Kiara Lewis for a 3-pointer. And later, after an Emily Engstler layup, she intercepted a Miami pass in the backcourt before finishing another layup with ease.

Williams played less of a role in the second quarter as the rest of the Orange offense hit a lull, with SU shooting a mere 43% after boasting a 76% shooting percentage in the opening 10 minutes. Still, Williams converted her final attempt of the half on a contested 3 to help SU carry its 18-point first quarter lead into halftime.

But the second half was where Williams and the Orange began to take off, exploiting the Hurricanes both in the paint and beyond the arc with surgical inside-out passing. It allowed Syracuse to finish 64% from the field while converting 17 3-pointers, the former a season-high and the latter tying a program record. Two of those makes from deep belonged to Kiara Fisher, another member of SU’s potent freshman class.

“We have a lot of talent to better move the ball and share the ball,” Hillsman said, “We just score from all five positions.”

Williams emerged as the leader of the group in the second half. She opened the third-quarter scoring with a layup and rattled home another trifecta before being subbed out. Twenty-five seconds after returning to play, Williams drew a foul with SU already in the bonus and converted both free throws.

The No. 9 recruit in the 2020 class put a stamp on her best collegiate performance thus far with another three 3-pointers in the final frame. Two were relatively uncontested, and all three came from the left wing. Each one elicited more hysteria from the Orange bench than the last.

Even the one when she was smothered and forced to bank it off the glass. Of course, that one fell, too.

Published on January 17, 2021 at 4:56 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu