Dyaisha Fair Eclipses 3,000 Career Points in Syracuse's Comeback Win Over Clemson
A 19 point comeback win for Syracuse women's basketball is notable by itself. But that took a backseat to history made in the Orange's 83-82 win over Clemson on Sunday. Dyaisha Fair led Syracuse with 21 points and in doing so, became the first Syracuse and ACC player to eclipse the 3,000 career points mark. In fact, she was just the 16th women's college basketball player ever to achieve the milestone.
"Today was even more special with Dyaisha Fair," head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. "Someone said she was 5-4, but they forgot to measure her heart. She came to me as a young lady that just ran up and down the floor. Now she's evolved into an amazing women who understands the assignment in giving your best effort and whatever that is becomes who you are."
It looked for a while like she may not get there. Entering Sunday's game, Fair needed 14 points. At halftime she had just two. Syracuse seemed to follow in her footsteps in that it looked out of sync for most of the first three quarters. The Orange fell behind by as many as 19 and trailed by 11 going into the fourth quarter. A three pointer to end the third quarter seemed to get both herself and Syracuse going.
"It was a bit of a struggle for me in the first half," Fair said. "I just kept going forward, kept trying. Whatever my best effort was, that's what it would have resulted in. But when I hit that shot it just allowed me to drop my shoulders. I got a little tense in the first half, but when that shot went down, it just allowed me to breathe a little different."
Fair took over in the fourth quarter and led Syracuse all the way back for a thrilling victory. While most of her efforts during that comeback was scoring the basketball, it was a key pass that resulted in the game winning bucket.
Clemson's Amari Robinson, who scored a career high 35 points, hit a three pointer with 30 seconds left to give the Tigers an 82-81 lead. Syracuse called timeout to draw up a play and put the ball in Fair's hands. She took her defender off the dribble, got into the lane and drew a second defender in an attempt to stop her from scoring. Fair dished to freshman Alyssa Latham for an easy open layup with seven seconds left. A strong defensive effort on Clemson's last possession would seal the victory.
"I have a lot of thoughts right now but the one thing I can say is it's unbelievable," Fair said. "I've been told just recently that I need to start to celebrate myself. That's what I'm going to do.
"Over Christmas break we went home for a few days. We start to play on Sundays and that means I can't go to church because I'm playing. I went to church when we were home and my pastor spoke to me and he told me that's what I need to do. Success sometimes gets lonely. He told me that, no matter what, it's OK to stop and pat yourself on the back. Celebrate yourself. That's where it came from. I needed that."
Syracuse is now 14-2 (4-1) on the season. Next up is a matchup with a top 20 Florida State team in the JMA Wireless Dome on Thursday.
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