Syracuse handed Ohio State its first loss of the season in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge winning 97-91. The Orange move back to .500 on the season winning back to back games for the first time this year.
Teisha Hyman had a career high of 30 points and shot 66.7% from the field and from the arc. Hyman is one of the three returners from last year’s roster, but missed all of last year due to injury.
Syracuse’s first win over a ranked opponent came on the same day Priscilla Williams announced via Instagram that she will redshirt the 2021-22 season. Williams has not played since March 5th of last year and was the leading scorer from the returning roster. At the post game press conference acting head coach Vonn Read said he cannot comment on Williams’s decision to redshirt at this moment.
The Orange were first to put points on the board with a Hyman 3-pointer. Then the Buckeyes took over the scoreboard as they put up 15 straight points including four layups before Hyman put up two more for the Orange.
Then Syracuse found their rhythm offensively. At the end of the first quarter the Orange made it a six point deficit trailing 23-17.
Syracuse took their first lead since putting up the first points of the game with 5:11 to go in the second, with a three point play from Hyman to make it 29-27 Syracuse. With just 15 minutes into the game, Hyman already tallied 15 points for the night including two 3-pointers. The Orange went into the locker room trailing 39-36.
It was a back and forth battle in the third quarter with multiple lead changes. Syracuse scored four straight 3-pointers to lead 63-57. The Orange finished the night shooting just under 40% from three. Alaina Rice was the only player to come off the bench for Syracuse and she ended the third quarter with a layup to extend Syracuse’s lead 65-58 with ten minutes left to play.
Chrislyn Carr struggled offensively through the first 30 minutes of play and only had one point entering the fourth quarter. Murray pulled Carr aside before the start of the quarter and said in the press conference that she told Carr, “this is going to be your quarter.”
And it was. Carr finished the game with 23 points which ties her season high. She scored over 20 points in three straight games averaging 15 points per game this season.
Syracuse will host their third straight home game against Central Connecticut State at 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra. The Blue Devils have not played a game since November 24th and come to New York sitting at 1-4 on the season.