Sykes Soars in Dome Opener

Thursday, November 14

Syracuse, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

2-0

Dartmouth

1-2

Dartmouth

Syracuse

11/14/2013 9:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

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SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Brittney Sykes scored a career-high 26 points to lift Syracuse (2-0) to an 88-47 win over Dartmouth (1-2) in the home opener on Thursday night at the Carrier Dome. The Orange had four players score in double digits, with Shakeya Leary earning her second consecutive double-double.

Syracuse plays at home again against Cornell on Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. before the men take on St. Francis Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

"I really liked how we got out and ran the floor and created in transition tonight," head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "Brittney Sykes was tremendous, she was tremendous the first game and tremendous the first game here. She did a really good job getting out in transition, being aggressive and attacking the rim."

Taylor Ford finished the game with a personal best 13 points, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Leary had 10 points and 14 rebounds and freshman Isabella Slim recorded her first double figure game with 10 points against the Big Green.

The Orange went to the locker room at halftime with a 49-27 lead due to Sykes' impressive play, recording 18 points in the first half. Ford went a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc for 12 points in the first 20 minutes. Leary was key on offensive rebounding, giving SU five second-chances in the first half.

By halftime, all 14 active Orange saw playing time and eight finished with double figure minutes. Syracuse was 7-for-18 from three point range including 4-for-4 for Ford.

"Obviously we want to keep our players to double figure minutes and keep our starting five players fresh, so we were able to sub and play multiple people for multiple minutes, which is big for our team and will be big for our season," Hillsman said.

After the Big Green jumped out to a 5-1 lead, Syracuse went on a 17-3 run over the next five minutes to pull away. Sykes scored eight points in the run that put the Orange in command, 18-8 with 11:41 left in the half.

Syracuse finished the last five minutes of the game on a 13-2 run, highlighted by 11 consecutive points in the last five minutes of play. Phylesha Bullard played a large role in the final minutes, scoring nine points in the final 2:53 of the game.

Overall, the Orange shot 44.3 percent from the field while holding Dartmouth to 28.3 percent. Syracuse tallied 22 fast-break points while allowing none.