Orange women soar past Eagles

Story and photo by Jacqueline Mundry

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Before the Super Bowl, comes women's basketball.

The  No. 24 Syracuse Orange (17-7, 8-3 ACC) defeated the Boston College Eagles (8-15, 1-9) 72-45 on Sunday afternoon at the Conte Forum.

On Girls and Women in Sports Day, the Eagles looked to snap a three game losing streak.

BC Head Coach, Erik Johnson, highlighted this special day after the game and said he wished his team could have given them a better game.

"It's inspiring to see all the young girls that want to become better human beings through the sport. That being said we had a high level opponent today and Syracuse showed why they are a top 20 team," he said.

Glimmer of Hope for BC

It didn't look like the Eagles stood a chance at the end of the first quarter when the Orange led by 17 but the Eagles put more pressure on the Orange in the second, preventing them from scoring for three and a half minutes. The Orange still went on to outscore the Eagles by one point in the second.

"They (Boston College) are a really good shooting team," Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "We wanted to be aggressive on the offensive end and limit their 3-point attempts and makes. I thought we did that today."

Johnson felt that rebounding was a big difference between the two teams. Syracuse had 44 rebounds while BC only had 26.

"When we were able to execute defensively we did get stops," Johnson said. "We did everything right game plan wise, and then we just have to grab a rebound."

Johnson also said he feels like his team handled Syracuse's pressure well.

"We just didn't convert enough on the other end," he said.

Stepping up for the Orange

Brittany Sykes and Alexis Peterson have been called the nation's best backcourt over and over and today their performance was no different, combining for 44 points. Peterson also recorded her 17th 20-point game this season.

"Syracuse played well, Alexis Peterson showed why she's one of the best guards in the country, she leads our conference in both points and assists." Johnson said. "She was the difference both offensively and defensively."

The duo weren't the only ones that put points on the board. Briana Day and Julia Chandler combined for 23 points.

Chandler had back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter, going 4-6 from behind the arc with a total of 12 points on the day. Day recorded a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Up Next

The Orange and Eagles will both head to North Carolina next. Syracuse will take on Duke on Friday at 7 p.m. and Boston College will take on UNC Thursday at 5:30.