SU Set For WNIT Third Round At Temple

Syracuse at Temple
Game Details	Thursday, March 22 \| Philadelphia, Pa. \| 7 p.m. McGonigle Hall \| WNIT Bracket
Game Coverage	TV: None Radio: Sunny 102.1 FM, WJPZ 89.1 FM Orange All Access: Audio \| Live Stats Twitter: @SyracuseWBB @Cuse
Syracuse Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule
Temple Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse women's basketball team (20-14, 6-10 BIG EAST) will look to make it a 2-0 trip to Philadelphia when it plays Temple (23-9, 13-1 Atlantic 10) in the WNIT third round on Thursday in a 7 p.m. tip-off at McGonigle Hall.
• The Orange is coming off back-to-back postseason road wins, the first two in program history. SU opened with a 59-42 win at Hartford on Friday before winning at Drexel, 65-43, on Monday.
• The winner of this game will face the winner of Virginia Commonwealth and Toledo in the fourth round on March 24-26.

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 free video 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 9-3 all-time in the WNIT and has advanced to the quarterfinals two seasons in a row, making this the third season in a row SU has won multiple postseason games.
• 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.

'MELO IN PHILLY
• The SU women were not the only Orange in Philadelphia this week. Some members of the Orange got the chance to meet Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony outside the team hotel on Wednesday. The 2003 Final Four Most Outstanding Player was in town as his Knicks defeated the 76ers that night.

SERIES HISTORY
• This will just the second-ever meeting between Syracuse and Temple in women's basketball and the first in 31 years. It will also be the first time the teams have played in the United States as SU defeated the Owls, 75-74, on Jan. 10, 1981 at the McGill-Martlet Tournament in Montreal, Quebec.

SCOUTING TEMPLE
• The Owls are 23-9 overall and went 13-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
• Temple's lone conference loss was against St. Bonaventure (74-65) on Jan. 11 and lost in the A-10 semifinals to Dayton (66-63) on March 4.
• The Owls have won games at home vs. Quinnipiac (75-60) and Harvard (64-59) in the WNIT.
• Shey Peddy is the Owls' top scorer at 17.5 points per game. She has a team-high 73 3-pointers, shooting 37.6 percent from behind the arc, and also leads the club in steals (101).
• In the post, Kristen McCarthy scores 12.6 ppg and grabs 6.5 rebounds per game. Victoria Macauley is the top rebounder at 7.5 per game while scoring at a 9.6 ppg clip.
• Sophomore guard Nikki Works is a Syracuse native and graduate of Nottingham High School.
• Tonya Cardoza is in her fourth season as head coach. The former long-time Connecticut assistant has led the Owls to four-straight postseason tournaments, including NCAA berths in 2010 and 2011.

ORANGE SLAYS DRAGONS
• Syracuse used a 21-2 run and held Drexel without a point for nearly six minutes down the stretch to knock off the Dragons (19-14) on Monday night at Daskalakis Athletic Center in the second round of the WNIT, 65-43.
• With the victory, the Orange reaches the 20-win plateau for the fourth consecutive season, and fifth time in the past six seasons.
• Syracuse had four players reach double-figures, led by Kayla Alexander's 16 points and 11 rebounds. Philadelphia native Carmen Tyson-Thomas also recorded a double-double, her eighth of the season, with 13 points and a game-high 12 boards in her first start in seven games.

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 second in the NCAA in rebounding, averaging 46.0 per game and ranks 10th in rebounding margin (+9.3).
• In the BIG EAST, SU leads the conference in rebounds per game (46.0), offensive rebounds (20.2) and is second in rebounding margin (+9.3).
• 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, 6.3.
• 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 (577) and ninth in free throws attempted (766).
• Syracuse ranks third in the BIG EAST and 24th nationally in free throw shooting percentage at .753.
• Iasia Hemingway has set program records in free throws made (187) and attempted (239) and ranks fourth and fifth, 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 (14.3 ppg.) and second-leading rebounder (7.3 rpg.) this season. She ranks 13th in the BIG EAST in scoring and 10th in rebounding. She also leads the conference in blocked shots (84 total, 2.5 per game).
• Alexander has scored 1,389 points in 105 career games. The junior is 16 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 244 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 391. She now trails Nicole Michael (2007-10) by 34 for the most in SU history.

HEMINGWAY SPARKS ORANGE
• Senior Iasia Hemingway has reached double figures in scoring in 25 of 34 games this season and reached the 30-point mark three times. She leads the team in scoring (14.9 ppg), ranking eighth 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. 950 of her 1,575 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, 3.5 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 for seven games before starting last game, averaging team-bests 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 steals in the last eight games.
• 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 eight double-doubles on the season and 17 in her career.

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