Craig Bowen 
Starkville, Miss. — Syracuse women’s basketball teacher Quentin Hillsman walked out of a media convention Saturday after his crew’s 84-fifty seven loss to Oklahoma State and closer to what he vowed to become the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
Hillsman had cause for the short ahead-thinking. In the quick term, he and the Orange (22-nine) desired to leave behind the pain in their first-spherical NCAA Tournament loss to OSU as quickly as feasible. But that disappointment will soon fade. The more potent appeal of the destiny is that Hillsman will be molding what might be of the strongest teams in his tenure on the college. No vast contributor to this 12 months’ Orange squad is a senior. Hillsman used the same starting five for all 31 video games this season. All 5 of these payers go back: sophomore guards Tiana Mangakahia and Gabrielle Cooper, junior forward Miranda Drummond, freshman forward Digna Strautmane, and freshman middle Amaya Finklea-Guity.
Guard Isis Young, commonly the primary participant off the bench, is a junior, as is software player Raven Fox. Next, yr could be a lot exclusive. We’re returning, so we understand the gadget already,” said Mangakahia, who led Division I in assists this season. “We’ve performed within the software for 12 months. I assume we’ll be lots higher subsequent 12 months.” Syracuse’s optimism has more foundation than just large-game examined veterans. Hillsman has a dedication from Emily Engstler, a 5-big name forward/defend from New York City.
“Emily is honestly a three-dimensional type for us and has no restriction to her game. She’s the quality all-around, complete player inside the country,” Hillsman stated at the time. The Orange have to additionally experience the offerings of sophomore shield Desiree Elmore, who missed this season as a clinical pink-shirt, sophomore defend Kiara Lewis, who sat out this yr after transferring from Ohio State, and 5-superstar forward Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, who watched this yr as a crimson-shirt freshman. “The revel in that we received this 12 months and the minutes that our youngsters are gambling is best going to assist us forward,” Hillsman stated. “We’re going to be quite good. We’ve got certainly precise (recruiting) instructions stacked lower back-to-lower back. I think that this yr’s exact for us. We grew up this 12 months.
