BIG EAST Championship On The Horizon For The Sixth-Seeded Orange Women's Hoops Team
3/4/2008 11:32:27 AM | Women's Basketball
With 16 ticks remaining in the rv/rv Orange women's basketball game against No. 14/13 West Virginia, forward Fantasia Goodwin reached up and grabbed her final rebound inside the Carrier Dome. The senior's eighth board of the night was the final play in Syracuse's 73-51 win and capped a historical regular season, which positioned the Orange as the sixth seed at the BIG EAST Championship from Saturday, March. 8 through Tuesday, March. 11. First up for head coach Quentin Hillsman's squad is 11th-seed USF on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The showing will be the Orange's first in the conference tournament since 2005 when Syracuse, an 11-seed, knocked off six-seed Georgetown, 68-58, to advance to the second round. SU has made 23 appearances in the BIG EAST Championship and has won one or more games on five occasions.
The program recorded its first BIG EAST Tournament victory when it defeated fourth-seed Pittsburgh, 56-55, in 1985. The Orange then upset top-seed St. John's 67-49 and second-seed Villanova, 57-56, to claim its only BIG EAST Championship.
Fans are invited to join the Orange in Hartford, Conn. A limited number of full-session tickets for the BIG EAST Championship are now on sale. Tickets may be purchased at the Carrier Dome Box Office or by calling the Box Office at 1-888-DOMETIX. Package tickets for admission to all 11 games of the championship are priced at $105 each.
All of Syracuse games can be heard on suathletics.com, via the Orange All Access package, with Brian Higgins ’04 providing the play-by-play. Additionally, WTLA1200/1440 AM and WJPZ 89.1 FM will provide a radio broadcast and BIG EAST Television will provide the telecast to the regional networks.
With a victory against the Bulls, the Orange will battle third-seed West Virginia on Sunday, March. 3 at 8 p.m. That contest will be aired on EPSNU.
The last time SU and USF met was on Jan. 12 and the Orange left Tampa, Fla. with a 67-60 victory with four student-athletes in double figures. Junior guard Chandrea Jones led the way with 19 points and helped fight off a second-half surge by the Bulls, which overcame a ten-point halftime deficit to take the lead, 50-49, at 6:01.
SU held a four-point advantage entering the final two minutes and a three-point play by freshman guard Erica Morrow gave the Orange a 63-56 lead with 1:50 remaining. The Bulls sent the rookie guard to the line four more times the rest of the way and she converted all four to give the Orange the 67-60 win.
Morrow finished with 15 points, while sophomore forward Nicole Michael posted 13 and Goodwin totaled 10. Both Michael and Goodwin tallied double-doubles by adding 15 and 12 rebounds, respectively.
The victory inside the Sun Dome was the Orange's 14th of the season and came after rv/rv Pittsburgh snapped Syracuse's school-record 12 game winning streak, which started with a 61-54 win against Lehigh during the Orange's home-opener. The Orange rolled during the streak, outscoring its opponents, 76.3-53.3, and outrebounded them, 47.8-32.4.
After the USF game, SU took the number one team in the nation, Connecticut, to the limit on Jan. 15 by overcoming a 10-point deficit during the last 3:43 to pull within two (61-59) at 1:14. The Huskies eventually prevailed, 65-59. The Orange defeated Villanova on Jan. 19, 73-60, earning SU its first national ranking (24) on Jan. 21 with 106 points.
This season Syracuse has posted victories against two nationally ranked opponents by defeating No. 23/24 DePaul, 69-66, in Chicago and against West Virginia during the regular-season finale.
The victory against the Mountaineers tied the Orange for fifth in the conference with a 10-6 conference mark, its highest standing since finishing fifth in 1990.
Four student-athletes are averaging more than 12 points with Jones leading the way with a 15.3 mark. Morrow is second on the team with 13.4 points, while Goodwin and Michael are third and fourth with 12.4 and 12.1 points.
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