THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

By Edward McFarland


 (Syracuse, N.Y.) – For the first time the Syracuse Women’s basketball team is advancing to the NCAA’s Sweet 16 round after defeating the University of Albany 76-59 in the Carrier Dome, Sunday

The Great Danes, who'd come back from 17 down to upset Florida on Friday, gave the Orange a fight, trailing 40-33 at halftime. But the Orange pulled out to a 61-45 lead after three quarters and held on from there.

“It’s an amazing feeling for our players because they work so hard and really deserve this moment,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "So I’m happy and excited for them to be moving to the next round.”

Fun while it lasted

Like many games this season, Syracuse’s full-court defense made a big difference. 

“The press is really good,” Albany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson chuckled. "We broke it in the second half a lot easier than the first half so that's kind of my fault. We just needed to moreso pass through it than dribble through it.”

Most times when Albany broke Syracuse’s press it resulted in Senior Shereesha Richards being found down low for a score. She had 23 points to lead Albany along with 14 rebounds.

“I’m just happy that we went this far,” Richards said. It’s sad that we lost, but you know we’ve accomplished so much this year and there’s more positive to look on than there is negative.”

Orange Offense Came Up Big

Though Syracuse’s defense played a key role in their second round win, their offense was the icing on the cake.

The Orange had three players in double figures along with an unexpected presence on the boards.

Redshirt junior Brittney Sykes had 24 points and five steals. Both were game highs. Her buckets came from hard drives to the basket and cross-court passes that she deflected and took the other way for easy layups.

Going into the game I knew I had to be in attack mode,” Sykes said. "I knew I couldn’t take any possessions off.”

Junior Alexis Peterson also dominated for most of the game. Peterson finished the game with 22 points and six assists.  

“We worked extremely extremely hard to get to this point, and the last couple of years we’ve come up short,” Peterson said. "So to get over this hump is big for us and big for our team.”


Bench players big contributors

Syracuse’s bench gave the starters solid support as Junior Bria Day played 28 minutes due to her sister Briana getting into early foul trouble. Bria Day came off the bench and snagged 10 rebounds.

Senior Maggie Morrison was the other star off the bench. She had 11 points as she shot 3-for-5 from downtown. The Orange had 21 total bench points.

Still Dancing

The four seed Syracuse Women's next game will be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Friday March 25. The next opponent will be Regional top seed South Carolina.