It was a monumental game for the Orange as the Syracuse women's basketball team (8-1) defeated Wagner, 66-28, at home after playing seven-straight on the road. Kayla Alexander led the Orange with a career-best 34 points and 13 rebounds. It was her fourth double-double this season. Carmen Tyson-Thomas joined the 1,000-point club, scoring six points to put her career point total at 1,001.
"We've had a lot of games in a lot of days," said head coach Quentin Hillsman. "I'm very happy with the win. Tonight was a little sloppy but I thought that our defense was really good. We did a very good job of not giving them a lot of open looks."
Lacie Hall added five points, five rebounds and three steals for the Orange. Phylesha Bullard and Shakeya Leary notched four points apiece. A total of 10 Orange made their way into the scoring column.
The Orange took advantage of Wagner's turnovers, scoring 18 points off of the Seahawk's 25 turnovers. Syracuse also scored 38 of its 66 points in the paint. Syracuse shot 36.6 percent from the floor and 73.3 percent from the foul line.
With Wagner leading, 12-9, a Taylor Ford jumper with 9:35 left in the first half started an 18-5 run over the duration of the half, putting the Orange in control 27-17. The SU dominance continued in the second half, as it outscored Seahawks, 39-11, including a 19-0 run between the 11:13 and 5:15 marks.
Both clubs struggled with shooting through much of the first half until the Orange went on its run to close the half, capped off by Rachel Coffey's three-point buzzer putting the Orange up 27-17. The Orange shot 32.4 percent in the first 20 minutes while holding Wagner to 21.4 percent.
After shooting 11-34 (32.4%) from the floor in the first half, the Orange gained momentum in the second 20 minutes of play. Five straight points right out of the locker room by Alexander put the Orange up 32-17.
Tyson-Thomas hit 1,000 career points with a layup at the 4:20 mark in the second half. She became the 22nd player in Syracuse program history to reach the mark. The last SU player to reach 1,000 points was Alexander when she set her previous career-high of 33 points at Binghamton on Nov. 26, 2011.
The Orange is back at the Carrier Dome this weekend when it hosts Loyola on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.
