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Morgan High's Zoe Rockenfield, left, and Syracuse's Rachel McBride contest the jump ball to start a game on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Maylee Anderson (2) drives against Morgan's Kamry Wardell on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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Morgan High's Makayla Williams (1) shoots over Syracuse's Karsyn Visser (20) on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Brighton Goddard (4) surveys the floor as Morgan's Zoe Rockenfield defends on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Morgan High's Kamry Wardell (12) brings the ball to the front court against Syracuse on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Rachel McBride rises to shoot against Morgan on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Maylee Anderson gathers to take a shot against Morgan on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Morgan High's Zoe Rockenfield shoots a first-quarter buzzer beater against Syracuse on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Karsyn Visser (20) tries to secure the ball as Morgan's Makayla Williams (1) defends on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Syracuse High's Maylee Anderson, right, drives against Morgan's Makayla Williams on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Morgan High's Makayla Williams rises for a layup against Syracuse on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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Morgan High's Kamry Wardell, center, navigates the Syracuse defense on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Syracuse.

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SYRACUSE — In basketball, size matters.

Tiny 3A Morgan High led super power 6A Syracuse for more than three quarters on Tuesday before the Titans’ bigs took over in the last 6:19 of the game.

Syracuse avoided a titanic upset, outscoring the Trojans 22-9 in the fourth quarter and escaping with a 55-47, nonregion victory.

Senior and 6-foot power forward Olivia Sorenson and 6-foot-3 senior center Rachel McBride both scored six points when the Titans opened the final frame on a 19-5 run.

“I realized I’m bigger and I’m the post, and I needed to take accountability,” Sorenson said. “I should be able to score over anybody smaller than me.”

Morgan junior guard Makayla Williams also felt that was where the game got away from the Trojans in the fourth quarter.

“They put up some big post moves on us that we couldn’t keep up with. We need to work on covering the high post; we kept getting beat with that. They’re really big and really good,” Williams said.

The Trojans (1-3) led from the outset until their collapse at the end, trending 14-7 after one quarter, 23-18 at the half and 38-33 after three before the Titans rallied.

“We started out kind of slow, but we realized what we needed to do was lock in,” Syracuse senior forward Karsyn Visser said. “We went in thinking this is a smaller school and we’ll have an easy win tonight, but every team wants to beat us and we need to play the best game that we can.”

Williams did all she could to take home the road win for Morgan, scoring a game-high 28 points, including four 3-pointers. Teammate Zoe Rockenfield, a sophomore, added 19 points on five 3s as the dynamic duo totaled every Trojan point on Tuesday.

“It just happened. We normally try to move the ball around, give everyone a chance, but our shots were the only ones falling,” Williams said. “We lost, but overall we did really good. We did what we could for the team and tried to our best to get the win.”

It was almost enough, but Syracuse made some adjustments at the half to try and slow Williams and Rockenfield down. Still, both teams scored 15 points in the third quarter.

“We underestimated them; they’re both great players and we realized they might need a little more special treatment,” Visser said. “We switched to man at halftime. Something needed to change because they were hitting all those 3s and we needed to turn it around. Man was the way to go.”

Sorenson said the Titans (2-0) needed to get back to the basics and forget the opponent.

“We talked about playing basketball; stop being robotic and play as a team. We don’t want to go down to anybody’s level,” Sorenson said. “Play our game and we’ll win. I think that showed … who we are and what we play like. There was more panic in the first half, but in the third and fourth quarters, you could finally see us play confidently.”

Visser nailed her second 3-pointer of the third quarter, closing the Titans’ deficit to 32-31 with 2:37 remaining, before treys by Williams and Rockenfield maintained Morgan’s lead at 38-33 after three.

But, in a harbinger of things to come, Sorenson scored just her second bucket of the game at the 1:14 mark of the third quarter, setting the stage for the fourth quarter spurt.

“I only had the one basket early; I couldn’t finish. I had to get out of my head. Coach (Braden Hamblin) told me to keep shooting it,” Sorenson said. “He wants us to shoot it and be confident. He knew our size was better and that was the difference.”

With their six-packs in the fourth quarter, Sorenson finished with 10 points and McBride had eight for the Titans.

Visser opened the fourth quarter with her third three of the game for Syracuse, making it 38-36 with 7:39 on the clock. She netted 10 points on the night.

“I know if my team’s going to win, I need to contribute and play my part,” Visser said. “I have complete confidence I can make those 3s and I knew I needed to take them and get my team in the direction we needed to go.”

Sorenson’s basket with 6:39 left tied the game and McBride gave the Titans their first lead on a bank shot 27 seconds later.

The teams traded baskets before Maylee Anderson put the Titans in the lead for good, 42-41, on a jumper from the left angle with 5:46 to play.

Like one of those captions that says “and also starring,” Anderson led the Titans with 25 points, including a trio of 3s and a pair of free throws, helping them get to that fourth-quarter blitz.

Another Sorenson layup gave the Titans some breathing room and Visser made a free throw, expanding the margin to 53-45 with 36 ticks left.