WBB | Senior Norton starts 1st game of season in Orange's final home contest of year

By: Joel Godett

Posted: 2/27/06

It wasn't the prettiest of games, with the Syracuse women's basketball team losing to St. John's, 72-53, in a matchup that was never close. That didn't matter for Jill Norton, though, who was honored as the team's lone senior at Manley Field House on Saturday.

More importantly for the Orange, it witnessed a possible changing of the guard in the post Saturday, with the veteran Norton saying goodbye and redshirt freshman Sara Antolick asserting the dominance that Orange fans can hope to see for the next three years.

Norton, a biology major with hopes to move onto medical school, had played just 32 minutes this season before Senior Day against St. John's this weekend. Though she started 22 of 27 games her freshman year, Norton started her first game of this season in place of freshman Brittany Smith.

The senior recorded a season high 16 minutes, making the only field goal that she attempted, a jump hook with 4:50 left in the game. She also tallied her second block of the year and her first steal of the season. Norton finished with four points, adding two made free throws to her total. She shot 2-of-2 from the charity-stripe.

"I think she's been a solid leader for the team and she's been a good teammate," SU head coach Keith Cieplicki said. "I think that she's been very willing to try to really adjust and accommodate to the things that we've done."

Norton had steadily seen her minutes decline while at SU. In 2002-2003 she was only the fifth true freshman to start 20 games in an Orange uniform since 1993. She played 25 games her sophomore year, starting just three, and had no starts in 17 contests last season. Her appearance against St. John's was just her eighth time on the court this year. Cieplicki is very appreciative of the work Norton has put in, regardless of her playing time.

"I'm happy that she stuck it out with us, and she's going to go on and obviously be very successful in what she does," Cieplicki said.

Antolick, on the other hand, did not play the first five games of this season due to injury. She sat out all but six games of last season with a knee injury as well.

She averaged 21 minutes in her first 14 games this season, six times eclipsing the 25 minute mark. In those games, Antolick poured in 5.5 points, pulling down six rebounds and tallying a game high 11 boards at Seton Hall. That was the last time she had seen substantial minutes.

Since the Seton Hall game, Antolick has averaged 11 minutes in six games, disregarding the St. John's loss. In those games she played 10 minutes or less three times, averaging two rebounds and scoring a total of eight points, not recording a single point four times.

Against St. John's, though, Antolick resurged. She fell one minute shy of her season-high 31 minutes played, scoring six points while picking up five rebounds, two blocks, two steals and one assist. Antolick played her best game since a 71-57 loss to Marquette in the Dome on January 14.

"I think we all have to remind ourselves that this is her first year playing," said Cieplicki. "We've continued to see good development in her in practice. She played better today. I think there are some little things she still needs to clean up both offensively and defensively, but she'll be here three more years."