No. 25 Orange Women's Basketball Downs Boston College

By Jessica Eley
Photo courtesy cuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. - Brianna Butler's record breaking night helped lift the Orange over the Boston College Eagles 73-51 at the Carrier Dome, Thursday night. Butler led the way with 22 points and five steals.

"Overall it was a very solid game," head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "I'm very proud of our kids tonight, they played a very tough game,"


Broken Record


Syracuse was 9 of 16 on 3-pointers in the first half, six of those coming from Butler, the junior guard.
The fifth three she sank with 9:47 left in the first half gave her the most career 3-point field goals in Syracuse history. Butler passed Julie McBride's record of 229 shots made beyond the arc.

"I thought that she set the tone early by taking every open shot and really being aggressive looking for a shot," Hillsman said. "To have an all-time record as a junior is tremendous."

Butler said she didn't know she broke the record until halftime in the locker room when one of her teammates told her.

"It's definitely a great feeling, I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Butler said.

First Half

"We really came out and played hard and we put the pressure on them early," sophomore guard Alexis Peterson said.

The Orange was up 12-2 just five minutes into the game against BC before the Eagles tried to come back. But, unfortunately for BC, trailing 12-5 at the 14:45 mark, was the closest they would be to Syracuse.

Butler got 20 of her 22 points in the first half.

"With this team, we needed to get more possessions and not shoot a low percentage so we could press and do what we really needed to do," Hillsman said.

The Orange had 10 steals and shot at 51 percent to end the first half 45-28.

Forced Turnovers

The Orange forced 30 Eagle turnovers, SU's second highest of the season.

Boston College head coach Erik Johnson said the Orange did a great job of exposing his team's weaknesses.

"Syracuse deserves the credit, they're able to push tempo and play at a tempo you're not comfortable with," Johnson said.

Peterson, said her team came out hard and put the pressure on the Eagles early.

"I think it's really big because if we can score off those turnovers, we get easy offense and easy offense is good offense for us," Peterson said.

Next

Tiara Butler and Diamond Henderson will be honored at senior night on Sunday against Pittsburgh.