Syracuse Tops Georgia Tech for Second Straight Victory

The Orange women's basketball team made plays down the stretch once again.

Syracuse women's basketball pulled out a 62-59 win over Georgia Tech Thursday night in the JMA Wireless Dome. With the win, the Orange improved to 19-4 (9-3) on the season. 

It was not even close to half-full in the Dome, a sad lack of support for one of the best women’s teams in the county under the tutelage of a hometown legend coach leading this team to unexpected peaks so early in her coaching tenure. Nevertheless, this Thursday matchup between the 23rd-ranked Orange and just an OK Georgia Tech squad proved to be much more interesting than anybody in Orange (or pink) would have hoped for. 

The first quarter featured several lead changes, with no team pulled ahead by more than five, and Georgia Tech going into the second quarter with a two-point lead. Much of the second quarter was played at Georgia Tech, with the Yellow Jackets playing with lead between eight and five for much of the quarter. Dyaisha Fair led SU with ten points but only went 1-for-4 from three in the first half, and the Orange struggled to find any rhythm in the first half. Georgia Tech actually shot worse (39%) in the first half, but the combination of Kara Dunn and Kayla Blackshear controlled Georgia Tech’s flow smoothly both in the paint and from behind the arc.

After Syracuse escaped the first half only down three, they got much-needed separation, fueled by a 8-0 run early in the 3rd quarter, and it felt the Orange might be in control the rest of the way, with the lead getting up to eight points. However, Georgia Tech cut the lead to two with less than a minute left in the third quarter and had a chance to take the lead off the Aixa Wone-Aranaz and one opportunity, but Syracuse held onto a slim 1-point lead going into the final quarter despite a scoreless third quarter for Dyaisha Fair, who struggled much of the night en route to 17 points on an inefficient 5-of-18 night from the field. The last quarter resembled the first a ton, with both teams going back and forth. A circus shot and one opportunity for Izabel Varejao with 4:16 left, SU’s second leading scorer this game with 13 points behind Fair (in her first game back in over two months after dealing with an unspecified medical issue). 

Syracuse had a chance to seal the deal with Dyaisha Fair up two with 12 seconds left. She made the first free throw, but missed the second, only to have Alyssa Latham snag the offensive rebound. However, the freshman from Illinois missed both of her free throws, giving Georgia Tech a glimmer of hope down only three with 10.7 seconds left. A potential game tying three pointer by Rusne Austinaite hit off the back rim, and another Georgia Tech three narrowly missed, with the refs ruling the shooter out of bounds.

Postgame, Coach Jack had a moving opening statement, discussing assistant coach Sue Ludwig’s battle with cancer, now seven years in remission, on a night where both teams wore pink to represent the fight against cancer. She also hit on this team’s newfound ability to “win ugly”, which she said they didn’t have last year, and Izabel Varejao was also moved to tears when discussing her big game and the support her teammates gave her while she was out. Not a lot of time to reflect on this one for the women, as they have a Sunday matinee against 15th-ranked Louisville, who secured an impressive win against #12 Notre Dame Thursday night. 

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