Hartford Hosts Orange In WNIT On Friday

Syracuse at Hartford
Game Details	Friday, March 16 \| West Hartford, Conn. \| 7 p.m. Chase Arena \| WNIT Bracket
Game Coverage	TV: None Radio: ESPN 97.7FM/1200 AM, WJPZ 89.1 FM Orange All Access: Audio \| Live Stats Watch: Hawks All-Access Twitter: @SyracuseWBB @Cuse
Syracuse Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule
Hartford Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse women's basketball team (18-14, 6-10 BIG EAST) will head to Hartford to face the Hawks (19-12, 10-6 America East) in the WNIT first round on Friday in a 7 p.m. tip-off at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion.
• This is the fifth-straight postseason appearance for the Orange and fourth-straight Women's National Invitation Tournament berth. SU has advanced to the quarterfinal round in each of the last two seasons, winning three games in each.
• The winner of this game will face the winner of Thursday's Drexel vs. Fairfield game in the second round on March 18 or 19.

GAME COVERAGE
• All SU 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. The games can also be heard on student station WJPZ 89.1 FM.
• Links to the free video webcast and live stats will be available at SUathletics.com.

'CUSE IN THE NIT
• Syracuse is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the Women's National Invitation Tournament and fifth postseason appearance in a row (NCAA in 2008).
• SU is 7-3 all-time in the WNIT and has advanced to the quarterfinals two seasons in a row.
• In 2011, SU beat Monmouth (77-53), St. Bonaventure (63-50) and Eastern Michigan (72-63) at home before losing to eventual-champion Toledo in overtime on the road, 71-68.
• In 2010, SU beat Harvard (87-68), Richmond (69-55) and Virginia Commonwealth (74-59) before falling to Michigan (78-52).
• In 2009, the Orange went 1-1 in its first NIT appearance ever, beating Canisius (90-65) at the Carrier Dome for the program's first-ever postseason victory. SU then lost at Bowling Green, 72-69, in the second round.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Orange and Hawks have met just once previously, a 59-55 Hartford victory in the NCAA Tournament first round in Baton Rouge, La. on March 22, 2008.
• Then freshman guard and current graduate assistant Erica Morrow led the Orange with 17 points, while Fantasia Goodwin and Chandrea Jones posted 13 and 12 points, respectively.
• Tasha Harris hit a jumper with 26 remaining, giving SU a 55-54 lead, but Mary Lynne Schaeffer made a 3-pointer 10 seconds later and iced the game with a pair of free throws.
• Schaeffer led all scorers with 19 points.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
• Hartford is 19-12 overall and went 10-6 in the America East Conference. The Hawks had an eight-game winning streak ended when they lost the last game of the regular season at home to Boston University (57-52) and then lost its first game in the conference tournament on their home floor to Binghamton (48-45).
• SU and Hartford share four common opponents this season. The Hawks lost at Notre Dame on Nov. 17, 98-43, (SU lost 74-55), lost at St. John's on Dec. 4, 70-45, (SU lost 70-58), lost at Providence on Dec. 31, 63-46, (SU won twice, 80-54 and 57-47), and beat Binghamton twice, 63-41 on Jan. 14 and 67-58 on Feb. 11, and lost once, 48-45, on March 2 (SU won 90-57).
• The Hawks are led by their frontcourt. Five-eleven junior forward Ruthanne Doherty leads the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg), while 6-1 junior forward Nikkia Smith is right behind her at 10.4 ppg and 4.3 rpg.
• Junior guard Daphne Elliott is the top threat in the backcourt. She averages 10.0 points and has hit 46 3-pointers (31.9%) on the season.
• Former UConn star and 1996 AP National Player of the Year Jennifer Rizzoti is in her 13th season as head coach, leading the Hawks to six NCAA appearances.

DOMINATING THE GLASS
• Dominant rebounding has become the norm for the Orange in recent years. Syracuse ranks fourth in the NCAA in rebounding, averaging 45.9 per game and ranks 11th in rebounding margin (+9.1).
• In the BIG EAST, SU leads the conference in rebounds per game (45.9), offensive rebounds (20.4) and is second in rebounding margin (+9.1).
• SU has three of the top 15 rebounders in the league (8. Carmen Tyson-Thomas, 7.6; 10. Kayla Alexander, 7.3; and 15. Iasia Hemingway, 6.4.
• Syracuse led the NCAA in rebounding margin last season at +13.4 per game. SU outrebounded 31 of its 35 opponents.

STRONG AT THE STRIPE
• An aggressive, attacking style of offense results in the Orange ranking fourth in the NCAA in free throws made (552) and ninth in free throws attempted (730).
• Syracuse ranks second in the BIG EAST and 22nd nationally in free throw shooting percentage at .756.
• Iasia Hemingway has set program records in free throws made (183) and attempted (235) and ranks fourth and third, respectively, in the NCAA.
• Carmen Tyson-Thomas leads the Orange with a .859 mark from the free throw line this season.
• The Orange set a BIG EAST record for most free throws made without in a miss in a game at Providence (1/31) when it went 23-of-23.
• On Jan. 7 at Pitt, The Orange went 34-of-38 (.895) at the line, including Hemingway setting a school record with 15 free throws in 16 attempts.

ALEXANDER CONTROLS THE POST
• Junior center Kayla Alexander is the Orange's second-leading scorer (14.6 ppg.) and second-leading rebounder (7.3 rpg.) this season. She ranked 11th in the BIG EAST in scoring and 10th in rebounding. She also leads the conference in blocked shots (81 total, 2.5 per game).
• Alexander has scored 1,370 points in 103 career games. The junior is 35 points behind Martha Mogish (1978-81) for fifth.
• Alexander scored a career-high 33 points against Binghamton on Nov. 26, giving her 1,008 points in her career. She becomes the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points in her career and the first since Erica Morrow accomplished the feat in 2009-10.
• Alexander is second on Syracuse's career blocked shot list with 241 after passing Vaida Sipaviciute (2005-08) with eight rejections vs. Georgetown (2/25).
• Alexander is second on SU's career free throws made list at 384. She now trails Nicole Michael (2007-10) by 41 for the most in SU history.

HEMINGWAY SPARKS ORANGE
• Senior Iasia Hemingway has reached double figures in scoring in 25 of 32 games this season and reached the 30-point mark three times. She leads the team in scoring (15.3 ppg), ranking sixth in the BIG EAST, and averages 6.4 rebounds (15th in the BIG EAST).
• Hemingway played the first two years of her career at Georgia Tech before transferring to SU. She scored her 1,500th career point in a 20-point, 15-rebound, 6-assist performance vs. Georgetown (2/25) on Senior Day. 936 of her 1,561 points have come in her two seasons at SU.
• She scored a career-high 33 points, including a school-record 15 free throws in 16 attempts, in a win at Pitt (1/7).
• She set a then-career-high with 31 points to go along with 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season vs. Colgate on Dec. 31.

TYSON-THOMAS MAKES IMPACT
• Junior Carmen Tyson-Thomas ranks third on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg.) and leads the club in rebounding at 7.6 per game, eighth in the BIG EAST, 3.6 of which come at the offensive end, fifth-best in the conference.
• Tyson-Thomas has come on strong since moving out of the starting lineup and serving as the sixth man the last six games, averaging 12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals in that span.
• The versatile swing player stuffed the stat sheet in a win at No. 21/18 DePaul (2/21) with 22 points, a career-high 15 rebounds, five steals and four assists.
• She had a streak of three-straight double-doubles (12/29, 12/31, 1/3) and had scored in double figures in five-straight. She has seven double-doubles on the season and 16 in her career.

HALL DISPLAYS ALL-AROUND GAME
• Do-everything junior Elashier Hall has shown her versatility this season, averaging 8.2 points per game to go along with 5.1 rebounds per contest, all while leading the team with 99 assists and is second in steals (59).
• She is coming off a near-double-double performance with 11 points and nine rebounds in the BIG EAST Tournament vs. West Virginia.
• Hall had 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and hit a key 3-pointer in the final minute of SU's comeback win at Seton Hall (1/22).
• Hall led the Orange with 19 points against Oklahoma (12/19), going 11-of-13 from the free throw line.

LEARY CLEANING UP THE GLASS
• SU's key post presence off the bench, sophomore Shakeya Leary is averaging 5.6 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game. That equates to 14.6 rebounds per 40 minutes of action.
• Leary scored eight consecutive points in the Orange's 17-0 second-half run in the BIG EAST Tournament win vs. Providence. She finished the game with 12 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes.
• She led the Orange with 13 rebounds against Long Beach State. Leary also had 10 rebounds against Binghamton, 10 at Boise State (11/29) and 10 vs. Xavier (12/18).
• Leary scored a career-high 15 points in 19 minutes at Providence (1/31).

BULLARD COMING ON STRONG
• Sophomore wing Phylesha Bullard has become one of the Orange's key players in the latter portion of the season. After averaging 1.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.9 minutes over the first 20 games, she is averaging 5.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 23.8 minutes per contest in SU's last 12 games, including starts in the last six.
• Bullard scored six points and grabbed five rebounds vs. No. 3 UConn (1/25), and then tied a career-high with eight points vs. Cincinnati (1/28) and set a new career-nest with seven rebounds.

COFFEY RUNNING THE POINT
• Sophomore Rachel 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 dished out a game-high five assists in March 3's BIG EAST tourney win over Providence.
• Coffey had a career game at No. 21/18 DePaul on Feb. 21, setting career-highs in points (22), rebounds (8), assists (7), and 3-pointers (6).
• Coffey has started 22 games in a row at point guard. She is averaging 4.7 points and ranks second on the squad in assists with 92 (2.9 per game). She had a previous-best six-assist game vs. Ohio (12/20) and matched it vs. Marquette (2/18).

TWO McDONALD'S ALl-AMERICANS
• Syracuse NLI signees Brianna Butler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Brittney Sykes (Newark, N.J.) were two of 24 high school seniors named 2012 McDonald's All-Americans on Feb 9.
• They are the third and fourth SU signees to have garnered the honor, and the first time the Orange has had multiple McDonald's All-Americans in the same class.
• Erica Morrow (2007) and Juanita Ward (2005) are the only other Syracuse players to be named McDonald's All-Americans.
• Connecticut (3), Baylor (2), Duke (2), Notre Dame (2) and Texas A&M (2) were the only other programs with multiple signees named to the teams.

SU SIGNS No. 6 RECRUITING CLASS
• Quentin Hillsman announced on Nov. 10 five National Letter of Intent signings for the 2012 recruiting class: Brianna Butler (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Cornelia Fondren (Memphis, Tenn.), Taylor Ford (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Pachiyanna Roberts (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Brittney Sykes (Newark, N.J.).
• ESPN Hoopgurlz ranks SU's signing class as the sixth-best in the country with three top 100 recruits, highlighted by No. 13 overall Butler, a 6-0 combo guard, and No. 30 overall Sykes, a 5-9 combo guard.

100 AND COUNTING
• Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman recorded his 100th career victory in the Orange's win against St. Francis on Nov. 18.
• In five-plus seasons at the helm of the Orange program, Hillsman has guided SU to a record of 116-79 (.595). He became the fastest coach to post 100 wins in school history.
• Barb Jacobs, the winningest coach in school history, recorded her 100th victory in her 189th game. Hillsman ranks third in career wins at SU.

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