Syracuse Women's Basketball Starts Conference Play With Win

The Orange knocked off Wake Forest in the Dome on Sunday.

Syracuse Women’s basketball took on their first conference opponent of the season, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and came away with a 67-58 win.

Both teams stepped onto the court almost evenly matched in skill and ability. Syracuse Head Coach Felisha Legette Jack commented after their win on how hard both teams fought.

“What a physical game that was and that’s two teams really wanting something that only one team can go home with,” Legette-Jack said.

The Orange came out of the matchup 9-2 on the season, 1-0 in conference play, and undefeated (7-0) at home in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Wake Forest’s loss ended their five game winning streak and gave them a second loss in conference play after their loss to Virginia in November.

It wasn’t until the end of the first half, with just under a minute left, that the Orange took the lead for the first time.

That didn’t last for long though because Wake Forests’ Jewel Spear put in a 3-pointer with two seconds left on the clock.

Defense is where the Orange really needed to step up against Wake, and they did so in the second half.

With 2:30 left in the game Syracuse was up 54-53, Dyaisha Fair put in 2 which started the beginning of their strong finish

Cheyenne McEvans spoke after the game about how their defense just started to click.

“We started talking more, started sticking together through the mistakes,” McEvans said. “Defense, less offense, and it just brought the whole synergy with the team and stayed just locked in.”

Dyaisha Fair led the Orange with 25 points and no one on the team came close to her, the next best was Asia Strong with 10 points.

Syracuse’s next matchup will be against UAlbany at home on Tuesday.