A familiar face awaited the Syracuse women’s basketball team at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville on Thursday night.
It was Emily Engstler, who played three years for the Orange before transferring to play for the No. 3-ranked Cardinals last spring. Her first of two games against her former team resulted in an 84-71 defeat for Syracuse, its fourth consecutive loss.
Louisville was led by Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith, who both scored 20 points each. Engstler totaled 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. She made 50% of her shots (4-for-8) and all six of her free throws.
Syracuse had four different players in double scoring figures, led by Christianna Carr’s 19 points and three rebounds. Chrislyn Carr scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. Teisha Hyman, the Orange’s leading scorer, had 16 points and six rebounds. Alaysia Styles added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Syracuse trailed by four points with 3:10 remaining in the game, but Louisville went on a 14-5 run to end the game. Engstler scored seven points during that span.
“They got a couple of free throws at the end and they made a couple of good plays down the stretch, but I’m proud of or girls,” Syracuse’s acting head coach Vonn Read told Brian Higgins after the game. “We were right there.”
Syracuse committed 20 turnovers to Louisville’s 10. Read said the turnovers, along with the Cardinals’ 46 points in the paint hurt his team, which has lost three games to ranked opponents this season. The Orange beat formerly-ranked No. 18 Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Syracuse remains winless at the KFC Yum! Center. The last time the Orange won at Louisville was a 64-58 win on Jan. 23, 2010, in Freedom Hall, the Cardinals’ former arena.
Engstler played for the Orange from 2018-21 where she played in 82 games averaging 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Engstler, who was the highest-ranked recruit (No. 9) in program history as a freshman — before Kamilla Cardoso (No. 5) in 2020 — was named ACC Sixth Player of the Year in 2020-21.
Engstler will try to help lead Louisville to a second win over Syracuse when she makes her return to the Carrier Dome on Feb. 6.
In the meantime, Syracuse will try to snap its four-game skid at Virginia on Sunday (1 p.m., ACC Network Extra).
Contact Mike Curtis anytime: Email | Twitter
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