Syracuse Falls in Overtime at NC State
Syracuse fell 75-71 at NC State in overtime to close out the regular season Thursday night. With the loss, the Orange falls to 23-6 (13-5) on the season. Next up for Syracuse is the ACC Tournament, which begins on March 6th. As SU has clinched a double bye, the Orange's first game will be on Friday, March 8th. Time and opponent are to be determined.
The loss means Syracuse did not clinch second place in the ACC and can be anywhere from the two, three or four seed in the ACC Tournament depending upon how other games play out this weekend.
Syracuse shot just 36% from the floor on the night, but outrebounded the Wolfpack 51-40. NC State, however, shot 25 free throws to just seven for the Orange. Syracuse committed 16 turnovers to just 10 for the Wolfpack. Several of SU's turnovers came late in the fourth quarter and into overtime.
The game started with NC State jumping out to an early six point lead. The Orange, though, controlled most of the rest of the first half, using multiple runs to take a four point edge into the second. That is when the Wolfpack clamped up defensively to take momentum back.
Syracuse really struggled to shoot the ball in the second quarter, scoring just 10 points as NC State took a three point lead into halftime. In the third, however, the Orange answered. Syracuse came out of the locker room hot to take the lead back and extend to as many as six. With a six point lead, Syracuse had multiple possessions with good looks to push it further, but could not find the bottom of the net.
NC State would rally towards the end of the third to take a two point lead into the final frame.
Syracuse, though, would regain control with an 8-0 run to start the fourth over the first four minutes. The Orange advantage would stay between one and four points during the next three and a half minutes.
Leading by three with less a little over a minute to go, NC State hit a three to tie the game. On Syracuse's next possession, Georgia Woolley was called for traveling to give the Wolfpack the ball back in a tie game with 45 seconds left. A River Baldwin layup on that possession would give NC State the lead.
In the final seconds, Georgia Woolley's shot in the lane missed, but the ball went out of bounds to Syracuse. On the in-bounds play, Dyaisha Fair kicked to Izabel Varejao for a corner three to win it, but the shot missed to end the game. Alyssa Latham got the offensive board and tried a quick put back, but a foul was called on NC State with 0.1 seconds to go. Latham would hit both free throws to force overtime.
In the overtime, but teams struggled shooting the ball as neither scored for the first two and a half minutes. Sophie Burrows briefly gave Syracuse the lead, but back to back layups from NC State combined with the Orange missing several good looks from three proved to be the difference.
Dyaisha Fair led all scorers with 26 points on 9-21 shooting including six made three pointers.
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