Orange Roll Past Iowa State, 85-65

Saturday, March 18

Storrs, Conn.

1:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

22-10

Iowa State

18-13

Iowa State

Syracuse

3/18/2017 3:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Syracuse will face Connecticut in the second round on Monday

STORRS, Conn. – The eighth-seeded Syracuse women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season with an 85-65 win against No. 8 seed Iowa State on Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.

HOW IT WAS DECIDED
Freshmen guard Gabby Cooper came firing out of the gate, hitting five from deep in the first six minutes of play. Redshirt senior guard Brittney Sykes added two from range and senior forward Isabella Slim had one three-pointer in the first quarter to give the Orange a total of eight, the most in a quarter for Syracuse this season.

Syracuse built a 33-8 lead in the first period. The Cyclones chipped into the lead in the second quarter, outscoring their opponent by four points, but 'Cuse had the scoring advantage in the second half, 45-24.

The Orange fought back in the third period, scoring an additional 22 points. They headed into the last ten minutes of play with a 67-47 lead.

Q'S TAKE
"Obviously, very happy with today. We played a very good team. Coming into this game, this is a team that really challenges your principles. They really did a good job stretching us out in the zone and getting some shots. This is a very good team. A team that really gets down the court; gets their offense to take good shots. We came out and played well. We did what we wanted to do. Just happy about our overall effort and our win."

OF NOTE
Cooper had a career-high of eight threes, a new Syracuse postseason record. Her 24 points were also a new career high for the rookie, beating her previous high of 19 points.

Senior guard Alexis Peterson filled out the box score with 25 points, eight assists, and five steals. Her eight assists were the most by a Syracuse player in the postseason in program history.

Finally, Sykes had four three-pointers in the game, tying her career high reached two other times. Sykes finished with 28 points and six rebounds.

Together, Cooper, Peterson, and Sykes accounted for 77 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists of the team's totals.

The Orange had a hot hand for most of the night hitting 15 three-pointers in the contest, a new program postseason record. It was the most threes for 'Cuse since Nov. 11, 2016 against Rhode Island with 17. Syracuse also recorded a new postseason high 14 steals.

TWEET OF THE GAME

.@CallMe_GiGi matches the program single-game record with her eighth 3-pointer against Iowa State! #OrangeCollar #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ZTWa7v2GH8
— 'Cuse Women's Hoops (@CuseWBB) March 18, 2017

UP NEXT
Syracuse will face the host team and No. 1 overall seed Connecticut on Monday in Storrs, Conn. Tip time will be at 6:30 p.m. The Huskies advanced with a 116-55 win against No. 16 seed Albany.

For the latest news on the Syracuse women's basketball program, follow /SyracuseWBB on Facebook, @CuseWBB on Instagram, and @CuseWBB on Twitter.

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