SU Women At Drexel In WNIT Second Round

Syracuse at Drexel
Game Details	Monday, March 19 \| Philadelphia, Pa. \| 7 p.m. Daskalakis Athletic Center \| WNIT Bracket
Game Coverage	TV: None Radio: ESPN 97.7FM/1200 AM, WJPZ 89.1 FM Orange All Access: Audio \| Live Stats Twitter: @SyracuseWBB @Cuse
Syracuse Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule
Drexel Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse women's basketball team (19-14, 6-10 BIG EAST) will head to Philadephia to face Drexel (19-13, 12-6 CAA) in the WNIT second round on Monday in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Daskalakis Athletics Center.
• The Orange is coming off the first postseason road win in program history, winning at Hartford in the first round on Friday, 59-42. The Dragons won their WNIT opener on the road as well, beating Fairfield, 57-41.
• The winner of this game will face Temple in the third round on March 21-23.

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.
• Free 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 8-3 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
• This will be the first-ever meeting between Syracuse and Drexel in women's basketball.

SCOUTING DREXEL
• The Dragons are 19-13 overall on the season and went 12-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
• Drexel won its WNIT first round game at Fairfield, 57-41, on Thursday night.
• The Dragons has a five-game winning streak snapped when they lost to Delaware, 59-43, in the CAA championship game. They beat VCU (65-61) and James Madison (67-50) to reach the finals.
• The Orange and Dragons share two common opponents, Pittsburgh and Seton Hall. Drexel won at Pitt, 71-50, on Nov. 26 (SU beat Pitt by 26), and lost at Seton Hall, 77-64, on Dec. 12 (SU beat SHU by four).
• Kamile Nacickaite leads the Dragons in scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg). A volume scorer, she has taken over 503 total shots and has gone 69-213 from 3-point range (37%).
• Hollie Mershon is the other Dragon scoring in double figures at 14.8 ppg. She leads the team with 105 assists and shoots 34.2 percent from 3 (55-161).
• Denise Dillon is in her ninth season as head coach. She has led the team to four postseason tournaments in a row, including the 2009 NCAAs.

WNIT OPENING WIN AT HARTFORD
• Leading by six at halftime, Syracuse came out of the break on a 16-3 run to knock off Hartford (19-13) in the first round of the WNIT on Friday night at Chase Family Arena, 59-42.
• All nine SU players entered the scoring column as Syracuse shot 20-of-53 from the floor, led by 12 points from Rachel Coffey. The Orange also turned 22 Hartford turnovers into 26 points. The Hawks were 14-of-52 (27%) for the game.
• SU would take a double-digit lead coming out of the break as Shakeya Leary (eight points) and Coffey each converted on field goals attempts to extend the Orange lead to 33-23. Leary would continue to dominate in the paint as Syracuse opened the half on an 8-0 run.
• The win was the Orange's first on the road in postseason play in program history and marked the fourth year in a row with a WNIT win.

DOMINATING THE GLASS
• Dominant rebounding has become the norm for the Orange in recent years. Syracuse ranks fifth in the NCAA in rebounding, averaging 45.6 per game and ranks 12th in rebounding margin (+8.8).
• In the BIG EAST, SU leads the conference in rebounds per game (45.6), offensive rebounds (20.2) and is third in rebounding margin (+8.8).
• SU has three of the top 15 rebounders in the league (8. Carmen Tyson-Thomas, 7.5; 11. Kayla Alexander, 7.2; and 15. Iasia Hemingway, 6.3.
• 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 (564) and eighth in free throws attempted (744).
• Syracuse ranks second in the BIG EAST and 19th nationally in free throw shooting percentage at .758.
• Iasia Hemingway has set program records in free throws made (185) and attempted (237) and ranks fourth and fifth, respectively, in the NCAA.
• Carmen Tyson-Thomas leads the Orange with a .853 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 (14.1 ppg.) and second-leading rebounder (7.2 rpg.) this season. She ranks 12th in the BIG EAST in scoring and 11th in rebounding. She also leads the conference in blocked shots (81 total, 2.5 per game).
• Alexander has scored 1,373 points in 104 career games. The junior is 32 points behind Martha Mogish (1978-81) for fifth in SU history.
• 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 387. She now trails Nicole Michael (2007-10) by 38 for the most in SU history.

HEMINGWAY SPARKS ORANGE
• Senior Iasia Hemingway has reached double figures in scoring in 25 of 33 games this season and reached the 30-point mark three times. She leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg), ranking sixth in the BIG EAST, and averages 6.3 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. 944 of her 1,569 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 (10.8 ppg.) and leads the club in rebounding at 7.5 per game, eighth in the BIG EAST, 3.5 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 seven games, averaging 11.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.6 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 5.0 rebounds per contest, all while leading the team with 102 assists and is second in steals (62).
• 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 5.7 rebounds in 15.5 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 4.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per contest in SU's last 13 games, including starts in the last seven.
• 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 is a averaging 9.0 points and has a team-best 37 assists over the last 11 games.
• 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 23 games in a row at point guard. She is averaging 4.9 points and ranks second on the squad in assists with 96 (2.6 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 117-79 (.597). 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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