SU Defeats Toledo In OT Thriller, 74-73

Saturday, March 24

Toledo, Ohio

2 p.m.

Syracuse University

73 (OT)

Toledo

3/24/2012 2:55:06 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score | Season Stats

TOLEDO, OHIO – After Rachel Coffey buried a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, the Syracuse women's basketball team (22-14) hit big free throws in the extra five minutes to help the Orange outlast Toledo (24-10) in the WNIT quarterfinals in front of 4,013 at Savage Arena, 74-73.

Syracuse advances to the WNIT semifinals for the first time in program history, and will play at James Madison on Wednesday. The time of the game has not been announced.

UT led 64-61 with 16 seconds left in the second half, but the Orange hustled the ball up the floor for a Coffey fade-away three pointer from the left side. Coffey had a career-high 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting (6-of-8 from three point range) as the Orange shot 38 percent as a team (24-of-64) and ended a UT streak of 10 straight postseason wins at home.

During the extra session, the Orange shot 8-of-12 from the charity stripe with both teams in foul trouble throughout the second half and overtime. Iasia Hemingway (18 points, seven rebounds) led Syracuse with an 8-9 showing from the line.

With a lot of back and forth action early on, Syracuse hit its first three attempts from beyond the arc, including conversions on consecutive possessions by La'Shay Taft and Coffey to take a 13-8 lead. The Rockets would answer, however, with a three-pointer of their own from Linn to cut the SU lead back to two.

Toledo's Yolan Richardson was forced to head to the bench just 13 seconds into the second half after picking up her third foul of the contest, and Kayla Alexander (four points, six rebounds) found herself in a similar situation less than two minutes into the half with her third of the game.

After Brianna Jones hit 1-of-2 free throws as a result of Alexander's foul, Carmen Tyson-Thomas (nine points, 12 rebounds) would put SU up seven with a three from the left side, but Linn responded with second three of the game to cut the UT deficit to four at 34-30. That, coupled with a jumper from Janelle Reed-Lewis made it a two-point game before Coffey nailed a three from the top of the arc to make it a five-point contest once again.

With Richardson back in the game with less than 15 minutes left, the Rockets took their first lead since the 16:46 mark of the first half with a runner in the lane and a 37-36 Toledo lead. The Rockets shot 31 percent in the game (21-of-67), including 7-of-19 from three point range.

Fouls continued to haunt the Orange throughout the half, as Alexander and Shakeya Leary were both on the bench with four fouls, putting the Rockets in the bonus with 12:39 left in the second half.

Back-to-back baskets from Elashier Hall (11 points) helped the Orange regain the lead at 46-44 before Coffey gave SU a five-point lead with another three from the right side with less than 10 minutes to play.

A huge offensive rebound from Leary with 5:47 remaining enabled Tyson-Thomas to bury a three from the right corner to extend the SU lead to 53-49. Andola Dortch would answer with her own three, but Tyson-Thomas converted on a jumper in the paint for a 55-52 lead. Dortch led three Rockets in double-figures with 23 points.

UT followed the Tyson-Thomas jumper with an 8-0 run for a 60-55 Rockets lead and 2:10 left on the clock, but SU would cut it to a 61-59 UT on two free throws from Coffey.

With the Orange in possession and trailing 62-61 with 20 seconds to play, Hemingway was whistled for an offensive foul, giving UT the ball with 16.8 seconds left. Dortch would hit two free throws for a 64-61 lead, and a Coffey fade-away three with 2.4 seconds on the clock knotted the score at 64 and force overtime.

Syracuse trailed 66-65 midway through the extra session, Hemingway hit two free throws before hitting the only SU field goal of overtime for a 69-66 lead. The Orange would continue to hit its free throws, and Troya Berry (three points, five rebounds) hit one free throw and grabbed two huge rebounds at the end of regulation and overtime to help the Orange advance.