Behind 20 and 24-point performances from Georgia Woolley and Dyaisha Fair, Syracuse women's basketball secured the series sweep over Boston College 79-72.
In addition to tallying 24 points, Dyaisha Fair earned an incredible honor late in the second quarter. After hitting two free throws, Fair became just one of two active Division I women’s basketball players to reach the 2,500 career points mark. The Buffalo transfer has averaged around 20 points per game for most of the season.
Speaking about the distinction after the game, the soft-spoken senior noted that her height makes the distinction all the more noteworthy.
“I don’t want to say that it doesn’t mean anything, but I think it’s impressive,” Fair said. “I mean, sitting at five-foot-five… that might be the best way to describe it.”
Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack coached Fair for three years at Buffalo before coming to Syracuse with her. Despite coaching her for four years and shaping her as a player, Coach Legette-Jack said that her role in Fair’s development was actually quite minimal.
“I know how to coach a kid like her. What do I do? I get out the way, let her do what she do,” Legette-Jack said. “I was just smart enough to get out of her way. Hope we can keep her for one more year.”
Right behind Fair’s 24 points was Georgia Woolley with 20 points, her second 20-point effort in Syracuse’s last three games. Almost half her points came at the charity stripe, where she went a perfect 8-8. Woolley, typically a shooting threat, was relatively inefficient, despite what her final scoring total came out to. She went 5-13 from the floor.
It wasn’t just Woolley who put up a lackluster field goal percentage, though; it was the entire Syracuse team. Boston College had the edge in overall shooting percentage, knocking down 47.6% of their field goal attempts against Syracuse’s 40.3%.
The only player on Syracuse’s roster to shoot over 50% from the field with at least five attempts was the team’s hard hat winner, Dariauna Lewis. Lewis was 7-12 from the field and finished with 15 points. She was just one rebound shy of what would have been her ninth double-double of the season.
Right as she was exiting the post-game press conference, she told reporters that Georgia Woolley, who finished with eight rebounds of her own, “stole” the rebound that would’ve put her into double digits.
Wooley’s response? “My bad!”
For Boston College, Maria Gakdeng led the way with 20 points. The six-foot-three center had her way in the paint, despite Syracuse putting two bigs on the floor almost the entire game. Gakdeng also snagged 12 rebounds, giving the sophomore her third double-double of the season.
Taina Mair and T’Yana Todd also made their way into double digits with 16 and 17 points of their own, respectively. Notably, Mair played the entire second half with three personal fouls and, miraculously, never fouled out of the game, despite playing for a sizable chunk of the second half.
This win gives Syracuse its first series sweep of the season. They previously had the opportunity to split their series with Louisville but were ultimately unsuccessful. The Orange will get a shot at splitting the series with Notre Dame in a week after the Fighting Irish pummeled them 72-56 earlier in the season. They will also have a chance to sweep Pittsburgh, whom they cruised past in early January, beating the Panthers 89-71.
In terms of the postseason, this was a must-win for the Orange and an excellent way to build momentum heading into a three-game stretch of ranked opponents, too.
The Orange are back in action Thursday night in the JMA Wireless Dome, where they will take on the current fourteenth-ranked team in the nation, North Carolina. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m., and the game will be televised on ACC Network Extra.
This article was edited to include the latest AP Top 25 ranking for North Carolina.