Orange Wins 3rd Straight, Beats Virginia

Sunday, January 26

Syracuse, N.Y.

2 p.m.

Syracuse University

15-5, 4-3

Virginia

10-10, 3-4

Team	1	2	F
Virginia	33	42	75
Syracuse	37	47	84

1/26/2014 4:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

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SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Brittney Sykes' career-high 27 points led the Syracuse women's basketball (15-5, 4-3 ACC) team to an 84-75 victory over Virginia (10-10, 3-4 ACC) on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Brianna Butler and Rachel Coffey also had big days, with Butler earning her first double-double on 16 points and 12 assists and Coffey scoring a season-best 17 points.

"It was just a tale of two halves with our aggressiveness and our intensity," head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "We knew we had to come out in the second half and take care of the ball and rebound. In the second half we had four turnovers. That was huge because we were shooting 50 percent from the field and we knew if we could get shots we could take care of the game."

Sykes shot 76.9 percent (10-13) from the field en route to her game-leading point total while Coffey was hot from beyond the arc, hitting 5-of-8 long-range shots. Butler's 12 assists were a career best, tripling her previous high of four.

The Orange shot 50.8 (30-59) percent from the field, the highest of the season, including 38.5 percent from 3-point range. Virginia was held to 39 percent shooting overall. The SU starters made up 79 percent of the Orange offense, scoring 66 of its 84 points, while the Orange bench outscored Virginia's, 18-8.

Syracuse got off to a slow start, trailing by as much as 11 with 10:50 remaining in the first half but the Orange went on a 24-9 run to overtake the Cavaliers, capped by a Rachel Coffey 3-pointer at the buzzer to put SU on top 37-33 at halftime.

The Orange did not let up coming out of the locker room and continued its run into the second half. SU went on an 18-0 spurt over 4:42 that spanned both halves, shooting 7-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-4 from long range and had five steals throughout the run.

Sykes had nine points in the first 4:18 of the second stanza to help give Syracuse a 53-40 advantage with 15:42 left. Virginia answered with a 19-5 run over the next 6:16 to take a one-point lead, but it was short lived as the Orange outscored UVA 26-16 to finish the game.

Senior center Shakeya Leary added six points, six rebounds and four blocks for the Orange, while Virginia was paced by Sarah Imovbioh's 21 points and 13 boards.

Syracuse head to Chapel Hill on Thursday to face No. 7 North Carolina in a 7 p.m. game on RSN.