Orange Concludes Road Swing At Temple

rv/rv Syracuse (7-0) at Temple (4-2)
Game Details	Sunday, Dec. 2 \| 2 p.m. McGonigle Hall \| Philadelphia, Pa.
Game Coverage	Orange All Access: Listen DartmouthSports.com: Watch \| Live Stats Twitter: @SyracuseWBB \| @Cuse Facebook: /SyracuseWBB
Syracuse Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats
Temple Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The rv/rv Syracuse Orange women's basketball team (7-0) concludes its seven-game road stretch with its final non-conference road game of the regular season at Temple (4-2) on Sunday. Tip-off at McGonigle Hall is set for 2 p.m.
• The undefeated Orange is coming off a 91-64 win at Darmouth on Thursday night after picking up a pair of impressive wins at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico vs. Georgia Tech (75-72 OT) and Virginia (74-73) on Thanksgiving Weekend.
• Syracuse returns home to host five in a row at the Carrier Dome, starting with Wagner on Dec. 4.
• The Orange is coming off a 22-15 season in 2011-12, its third straight season of 22 or more wins, capped off with a four-game road winning streak in the WNIT, reaching to tournament's semfinals for the first time in program history.
• Syracuse returns four starters from a season ago , including All-BIG EAST center Kayla Alexander. Eight of the top nine scorers are back, while a freshman class of five ranked as the sixth-best recruiting class in the country by ESPN joins the ranks.

GAME COVERAGE
• All the Orange's games can be heard live on SU's flagship station, ESPN 97.7 FM/1200 AM, and on Orange All-Access at SUathletics.com with Brian Higgins '04 on the call. Sunday's game will also be on WJPZ 89.9 FM.
• Orange All Access at SUAthletics.com will have live audio of the game, while OwlSports.com will have live video and stats.

ORANGE ROAD SHOW
• Syracuse has played six of its seven games away from the Carrier Dome this season, going 6-0, including 4-0 on the opponent's court. SU's 4-0 away-game record is the best among all BCS conference teams, ahead of Arkansas (3-0) and Arizona (3-0). Its 6-0 record in neutral-site and away games combined is also the best among major conference teams.
• The Orange's 10-5 record on the road in 2011-12 was the best in program history in terms of wins, surpassing seven, done most recently in 2007-08, and is the best in terms of winning percentage (.667) since 1978-79 (7-1, .875).
• In last season's WNIT, Syracuse won four consecutive away games for the first time in 22 years. Between Dec. 12, 1990 and Jan. 10, 1991, SU won five straight road games.

'CUSE GETS VOTES
• Syracuse is receiving votes in both the latest Associated Press (30 points) and USA TODAY Coaches Poll (38 points).
• SU received 30 points in last week's coaches' poll and is receiving votes in the AP poll for the first time this season.
• The Orange received votes in the first five weeks of the coaches poll last season.

SERIES HISTORY
• Syracuse is 2-0 all-time against Temple. The last meeting occured just over eight months ago as the Orange defeated the Owls, 82-68, in the WNIT third round at McGonigle Hall on March 22 (full box score and recap on page 16).
• Kayla Alexander scored 17 of her game-high 29 points in the second half and grabbed 10 boards. Carmen Tyson-Thomas also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Shey Peddy led TU with 20 points.
• In the first meeting between the schools, SU defeated the Owls, 75-74, on Jan. 10, 1981 at the McGill-Martlet Tournament in Montreal, Quebec.

SCOUTING TEMPLE
• The Owls are off to a 4-2 start, most recently beating Bowling Green on the road, 70-56, on Wednesday.
• Temple has played two BIG EAST teams already, winning at home against Seton Hall, 54-38, on Nov. 14, and losing at home to Rutgers, 66-50, on Nov. 21.
• Senior 6-4 center Victoria Macauley leads the Owls in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg). She had 11 points and six boards vs. SU last season.
• Rateska Brown is averaging double figures as well (10.0 ppg) and leads the club with nine 3-pointers. She scored eight off the bench (2-4 3FG) in last season's game.
• Macauley is the lone starter that returns from last season's 23-10 squad that went 13-1 in the Atlantic 10.
• 2011 A-10 Coach of the Year Tonya Cardoza is in her fifth season, three of which resulted in NCAA berthes.

ALEXANDER TAKES BIG EAST HONORS
• Senior Kayla Alexander was named the conference's first Player of the Week of the season on Nov. 19 for her efforts in leading the Orange to a 3-0 start. The senior center recorded a double-double in all three of Syracuse's first three games.
• She followed that up by being named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Nov. 26 after leading the Orange to another three wins by averaging 17.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.3 blocks during the week.
• Alexander, a two-time All-BIG EAST selection, was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST squad this season.

BIG RUN DOWNS BIG GREEN
• A 20-4 run to start the second half blew open what was a four-point game at halftime as Syracuse cruised to a 91-64 victory at Dartmouth (1-4) on Thursday night at Leede Arena.
• Kayla Alexander poured in a game-high 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting, while adding six rebounds and six blocks. It was the senior center's fourth game of 20 or more points this season. Rachel Coffey scored 14 points and had a game-high seven assists, freshman Brianna Butler added 13 points, and Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 10 points to give SU four players in double figures. The senior also added five rebounds and tied a career-best with six steals.
• The Orange dominated in the paint throughout, outscoring the Big Green 46-16, while also holding a 39-22 advantage on the boards. Syracuse hauled in 14 offensive rebounds, resulting in 24 second-chance points to Dartmouth's seven.

SU LOGS ACC WINS IN PUERTO RICO
• In the year before it makes its move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, Syracuse won two games against soon-to-be conference foes at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico on Nov. 23-24, beating Georgia Tech in overtime, 75-72, and Virginia, 74-73.
• Elashier Hall scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead SU to a 75-72 victory in overtime against rv/rv Georgia Tech. Fellow seniors Kayla Alexander and Carmen Tyson-Thomas added 14 and 13 points, respectively, and freshman Pachis Roberts scored a career-best 11 points to give the Orange four double-figure scorers in a back-and-forth game that saw 15 lead changes and 12 ties.
• Hall made two free throws with .4 seconds left to give Syracuse a thrilling 74-73 victory vs. rv/rv Virginia. Alexander scored 13 of her team-high 18 points in the second half to fuel the Orange comeback from as many as 12 down. The senior center also led the Orange with nine rebounds and four blocks. Hall finished with 17 points and Roberts added 11, giving SU three in double figures.

DOMINATING THE GLASS
• Dominant rebounding has become the norm for the Orange in recent years. Syracuse finished second in the NCAA in rebounding in 2011-12, averaging 46.2 per game and ranked 11th in rebounding margin (+8.9).
• This season, SU is averaging 45.6 rebounds per game, including a 61-35 advantage on Nov. 20 at St. Joe's.
• In the BIG EAST, SU is second in rebounds per game (45.6) and offensive rebounds (18.4), fourth in defensive rebounds (27.1) and fifth in rebounding margin (+9.9).
• SU had three of the top 15 rebounders in the league in 2011-12: 7. Carmen Tyson-Thomas, 7.8; 9. Kayla Alexander, 7.5; and 15. Iasia Hemingway, 6.4.
• Syracuse led the NCAA in rebounding margin in 2010-11 at +13.4 per game. SU outrebounded 31 of its 35 opponents.

ALEXANDER: SETTING RECORDS
• Senior center Kayla Alexander has scored 1,595 points in 115 career games. She enters the game 10 behind Julie McBride's (2001-04) 1,605 for third all-time at SU. She is 189 points behind the program's all-time leading scorer, Nicole Michael's (2007-10) 1,784.
• Alexander became just the fifth player in SU history to reach 1,500 points with 26 at Cornell on Nov. 16.
• Alexander passed Holly Oslander (1989-94) to become Syracuse's all-time blocks leader with eight rejections in the opener vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (11/11). She now has 290 to Oslander's 262.
• Alexander passed Nicole Michael (2007-10) for the SU career record for free throws made in the Orange's win vs. Georgia Tech (11/23). She has scored 437 points at the line in her career, while Michael had 425.
• Alexander was the Orange's second-leading scorer (14.8 ppg.) and second-leading rebounder (7.5 rpg.) in 2011-12. She ranked 10th in the BIG EAST in scoring and ninth in rebounding, while leading the conference in blocked shots (96 total, 2.6 per game), breaking her own school record.

TYSON-THOMAS MAKES IMPACT
• Senior Carmen Tyson-Thomas is averaging 11.0 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 49 percent from the field through seven games this season.
• The Philadelphia native recorded her 19th career double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds in Nov. 20's win at Saint Joseph's.
• The 5-9 swing player recorded double-digit rebounds 12 times in 2011-12 and began the 2012-13 season with 10 boards in the opener vs. Fairleigh Dickinson.
• Tyson-Thomas finished 2011-12 third on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg.) and led the club in rebounding at 7.8 per game, seventh in the BIG EAST, 3.7 of which come at the offensive end, fifth-best in the conference.
• Tyson-Thomas had back-to-back double-double performances in the WNIT at Drexel (3/19) and Temple (3/22), averaging 14 points and 11.5 rebounds. She had nine double-doubles on the season, giving her 18 in her career.

HALL DISPLAYS ALL-AROUND GAME
• Do-everything guard Elashier Hall has been just that for the Orange thus far in 2012-13, averaging 8.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
• Hall was the star for the Orange in its two wins in Puerto Rico at the San Juan Shootout (11/23-24), recording the fifth double-double if her career with 15 points and 11 rebounds vs. Georgia Tech and poured in 17 points, including the game-winning free throws with .4 seconds left vs. Virginia.
• She is coming off a typical Hall game at Dartmouth on Thursday, posting seven points, seven rebounds and five assists .
• Hall showed her versatility last season, averaging 8.7 points per game to go along with 5.2 rebounds per contest, all while ranking second on the team with 108 assists and 67 steals.
• Despite playing much of the latter half of last season on an injured knee, Hall finished strong, averaging 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in the final four games of the WNIT. She scored 18 in the semifinals at JMU (3/28) after three-straight 11-point outings.

1-2 POINT GUARD TANDEM
• The point guard tandem of freshman Cornelia Fondren and junior Rachel Coffey have been very effective in running the Orange offense, which is averaging 80.3 points per game (No. 2 in the BIG EAST).
• Coffey (21.9 minutes/game) has come off the bench to lead the Orange in assists in five games this season, compiling an impressive 35-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio (2.69) that ranks fifth-best in the BIG EAST.
• Fondren (18.3 minutes/game) has started every game at the point and has come on strong as of late, averaging four assists per game in the Orange's wins in Puerto Rico.
• Fondren has been a selective, yet effective, shooter from the outside for SU. She is 3-of-5 from 3-point range this season and is also shooting 80 percent at the free throw line.
• Coffey was the catalyst for SU in the postseason in 2011-12. She averaged a team-best 13.3 points and 5.5 assists per game in SU's four WNIT wins, along with 48 percent shooting from 3-point range (11-23).
• Coffey ended the regular season on fire from the outside, shooting 24-of-52 (.462) from 3-point range in the last 10 games of the regular season, while averaging 3.2 assists per game in that stretch.
• She scored a career-high 23 points with a program postseason record six 3-pointers at Toledo and also had an 8-assist performance at Temple, also setting an SU postseason record.

NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
• Syracuse went 7-0 in the month of November this year, its fourth-straight undefeated Nov., a string of 24 in a row.
• Since 2007, Syracuse is 30-3 (.909) in November. It has not lost since Nov. 26, 2008 at Alaska-Anchorage, 58-57.

HOT IN DECEMBER
• The Orange has been almost unstoppable in the month of December in recent years. Since the 2007-08 season, SU is 33-5 in December games for an amazing .868 winning percentage.
• Between Dec. 30, 2006 and Dec. 11, 2010, Syracuse won 26 December games in a row under Quentin Hillsman. The final win of that streak was a 75-66 upset of No. 6 Ohio State before it ended with a 77-43 loss to No. 2 Baylor on Dec. 21, 2010.

ANOTHER TOP 10 CLASS SIGNED
• On Nov. 27, head coach Quentin Hillsman announced the signing four high school seniors to National Letters of Intent to join the Orange in 2013-14.
• The four-player class, consisting of 6-1 guard Tasia Butler (Waldorf, Md.), 6-4 twins Bria Day and Briana Day (Raleigh, N.C.) and 5-6 guard Alexis Peterson (Northland, Ohio), is ranked No. 10 in the country by Dan Olson's Collegiate Girls Basketball Report and No. 12 by Blue Star Basketball Report.
• Three of the signees are ranked as four-star recruits in the ESPN Hoopgurlz 100 with grades above 90 (Butler, Briana Day, Peterson), while Bria Day is ranked as a three-star recruit and graded at 85.
• The talented class will join the current Orange freshmen class of five that was ranked No. 6 in the country by ESPN Hoopgurlz a year ago to form a nine-player nucleus representing the future of the Orange program.

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