The Syracuse women’s basketball team (19-7, 6-7 Big East) kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive with a 76-45 thrashing of Rutgers (15-12, 7-6) at the Louis Brown Athletic Center Sunday. It was SU’s second victory over the Scarlet Knights on the season, as Syracuse defeated Rutgers 79-66 on Jan. 13. The win ends a two-game losing streak for the team after disappointing losses to conference bottom-feeders Villanova and Cincinnati.

In the victory, senior forward Nicole Michael broke another Syracuse record, becoming the school’s all-time leading rebounder. She finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Michael has now recorded 937 boards for her career, putting her ahead of former SU standout Felisha Legette, who had 927 during her four years on campus.

Junior guard Erica Morrow led the Orange in scoring and assists with 17 points and seven dimes.

SU’s freshmen also played well, as guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas matched a career-high with 14 points on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting from behind the 3-point line. Freshman Elashier Hall also had a career-high with 10 points.

Syracuse’s defense played well throughout the game. The Orange kept the Scarlet Knights to just 29.4 percent shooting from the field, including 25 percent from behind the arc. As a result, Syracuse tallied 24 points off of 25 Rutgers turnovers. The Orange also shot 44.1 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from behind the arc in comparison with RU.

Rutgers bounced back from a slow start to draw within single digits at 26-17. But Michael halted a four-minute SU scoring drought with 5:03 remaining in the half. The two points were Michael’s first bucket of the game.

Michael, who led the Orange to its first victory at Rutgers in school history, recorded the 30th double-double of her career with her performance.

– Compiled by Asst. Sports Editor Tony Olivero

Published on February 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm