#24/20 SU Defeats #13/14 Louisville on Senior Night

Monday, March 4

Carrier Dome

9:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

23-6, 11-5

Louisville

23-7, 11-5

Team	1	2	F
Louisville	29	28	57
Syracuse	27	41	68

Game Notes PDF Box Score

Seniors Elashier Hall, Shanee WIlliams, Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Kayla Alexander were honored prior to tonight's game.

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

3/4/2013 11:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

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SYRACUSE, NY - The No. 24/20 Syracuse women's basketball team (23-6, 11-6 BIG EAST) used a 16-0 run in the second half to defeat No. 13/14 Louisville, 68-57, on Senior Night. In their final game of their careers at the Carrier Dome, Kayla Alexander scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Carmen Tyson-Thomas notched her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Elashier Hall scored 10 points and led the team in steals with six while Shanee Williams recorded one rebound.

"It was a big win for our team," head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "Obviously we knew coming into this game what this meant, this meant third place, and our kids really played with some urgency and we were extremely tired coming out of that last game that we just played. I think we did a very good job of being settled, being solid in the second half and just really buckling down and playing defense. I think that overall our team just played urgent."

With the win, Syracuse clinches the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament, its highest seeding since 1988. The Orange will play its first game in the conference tournament on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Freshman Brittney Sykes also had a team-high 16 points and grabbed four rebounds. The Orange took advantage of Louisville's 20 turnovers, scoring 22 points off them.

After 12 lead changes, SU pulled away on a 16-0 run that gave it a 53-38 lead with 8:44 left. The game-changing run lasted 5:42 and Tyson-Thomas scored five points during it, which included her second 3-pointer of the game. Hall and Coffey also connected on 3-pointers in the run.

Louisville's Bria Smith's layup at the 6:40 mark ended Louisville's scoring drought that lasted exactly eight minutes.

The Cardinals rebounded to make a late run. Shoni Schimmel hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left and cut the Orange's lead to four points, 60-56, but Hall sank two free throws with 1:03 remaining, making it a two possession game, 62-56. An Alexander layup, followed by two free throws extended SU's lead to 66-57.

Coffey's two free throws with 10 seconds left secured the Orange's 68-57 victory against 13th-ranked Louisville.

Sykes opened up the game's scoring with a 3-pointer, but Louisville answered with an 8-0 run of their own to jump to an 8-3 lead at 5:53 in the first half. Six-straight points by Kayla Alexander, put the Orange within one point, 10-9, with 10:46 left in the half.
Sykes had back-to-back layups to get the Orange within on again, 14-13.

In the first 14:49 minutes of the first half, Sykes and Alexander combined for all of SU's 13 points, until three straight 3-pointers by Hall, Tyson-Thomas and Brianna Butler cut the Cardinal's lead to 23-22 at 3:45.

The Orange and Cardinals traded 3-pointers before heading into halftime with Louisville up 29-27 at the intermission.

Syracuse came out of the locker room on a 7-2 run to take a 34-31 lead. Sykes contributed five points during the run. The Orange and Cardinals continued to trade leads throughout the second half. A layup by Cornelia Fondren with 14:26 left in the game had the Orange up, 39-38. Fondren's layup sparked the Orange's 16-0 run.

NOTES: Syracuse's four seniors, the winningest class in program history with 95 wins and the first to have three 1,000-point scorers, were honored in a ceremony before the game ... SU's BIG EAST quarterfinal game will be against the winner of No. 6 Villanova vs. No. 11 Georgetown/No. 14 Providence winner ... The winner of that game will play in Monday's second semifinal game at 8 p.m. on ESPNU ... SU finished its home slate with a 13-1 record ... The Orange has reached 23 wins for the fourth time in program history and the third time in the last four seasons ... SU's 23-6 record is its best in program history through 29 games ... Tyson-Thomas' double-double was her second in a row, third of the season, and 21st of her career ... SU outscored Louisville, 28-8, in the paint and 16-6 in fastbreak points.