Just as Nicole Michael developed into a leading scoring threat as a freshman last season, Chandrea Jones is doing the same this year in her first season with the Syracuse women’s basketball team.

Jones led her team in scoring in both games of the Taco Bell Warhawk Classic, hosted by Louisiana-Monroe, as Syracuse won the tournament championship by beating Eastern Kentucky, 88-67, on Saturday, followed by a win over ULM on Sunday, 69-56, in Monroe, La.

Jones scored 27 in the first game and 15 in the second to earn tournament MVP honors. The guard also pulled down 15 rebounds and had four steals during the tournament, and has scored in double digits in five of six games. The wins gave the Orange a 5-1 record, its best start in three years. SU’s weekend opponents had a combined 6-2 record.

Syracuse continued the torrid scoring pace it has established this season, beginning in the first half of its Saturday game. With 55 points, SU had its largest single-half output since 2001, behind 17-point efforts from both Fantasia Goodwin and Jones. SU is averaging 72.3 points per game, up from 58.5 last season.

Michael and Goodwin were both in double figures in the two games, and Goodwin added 16 rebounds to lead the Orange. Freshman Erica Morrow helped remedy Syracuse of its 3-point shooting woes, going 4-for-4 from deep, as the Orange shot 48 percent from behind the arc. It was shooting 19 percent going into the weekend.

The Orange will continue action Thursday with a 7 p.m. tip-off against Penn State in the Carrier Dome.

-Staff report compiled by Kyle Austin, asst. copy editor

Published on December 2, 2007 at 12:00 pm