WBB: Syracuse Defeats Clemson By 35

Syracuse Women’s Basketball rolled past Clemson in a 35-point victory. The “Bigs” – Amaya Finklea-Guity and Digna Strautmane – were a major key to the Orange’s success.

Finklea totaled nine points, two blocks and two steals while Strautmane chipped in 16 points, four blocks and three steals.

“Amaya has just been really aggressive and attacking the basket and playing at a high level,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “Digna’s a great player. She’s played a high level and college basketball shouldn’t be that big of an adjustment from a talent standpoint but it is at a speed level.”

Both girls have continued to improve throughout the season and thank their coaches for this. Finklea and Strautmane also believe practice has been influential on them.

“We get into it in practice,” said Finklea. “We’re battling managers, we’re battling each other. We’re dunking on each other. Playing against each other really helps a lot.”

Strautmane agreed with the statements that Finklea made and enjoys practicing against one another.

“It helps a lot,” said Strautmane.

As a freshman, it has taken some time for both girls to get adjusted to the system.

Finklea believes she needed time “to get more used to the aggressiveness of the game and Syracuse basketball,” she said.

With this win, Syracuse improves to 11-0 at home and extends its win streak to 12 games in the Carrier Dome. The Orange is one of eight teams left in NCAA Division I that hold an 11-0 or better record at home. The Atlantic Coast Conference is the only conference with two schools (Syracuse and Duke) on the list.

“Winning home games is very important in this conference and we are 11-0 at home this season,” Hillsman said. “Anytime you can take care of business at home is very important. We had great balance and spread some minutes around. We shot the ball really well tonight and made 10 threes so I’m really happy with our effort and the way we played tonight.”

Syracuse’s next game is Sunday January 28^th against Boston College. The Eagles are 6-14 this season.