There were no half-court buzzer beaters Saturday night.

There was a broken record, though.

Kayla Alexander moved into sole possession of first place on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list, surpassing forward Nicole Michael’s 1,787 points. Syracuse’s center finished with just six points, though, and now sits at 1,791 on her career.

After a thrilling win over St. John’s on Wednesday afternoon, Syracuse (16-3, 4-2) fell 64-59 to Villanova (16-3, 5-1) on Saturday at The Pavilion in Villanova, Pa. Brittney Sykes and Elashier Hall paced the Orange, while Alexander struggled. Villanova’s Rachel Roberts drilled six 3-pointers en route to a career-high 26 points, propelling the Wildcats to a down-to-the-wire victory.

“Give our kids a lot of credit,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “They really competed and I think next time we play them we’ll play better.”

Syracuse targeted Alexander early, but the center missed her first shot. Cornelia Fondren poked the ball away from Villanova’s Jesse Carey moments later and Sykes raced the other way for two to put SU on the board first.

Villanova had no answer for Sykes early in the game. The freshman snatched her second steal with 15:31 to go and raced away for an easy deuce. The bucket ignited the Orange to an 8-6 edge.

“We knew we could get to the rim,” Hillsman said. “I thought we had some pretty good looks in the paint. We didn’t make some, but obviously that’s part of the game.”

Sykes, Hall and Carmen Tyson-Thomas gelled for SU early on, while Alexander continued to be ineffective inside. She sat out for over five minutes before returning with 9:53 to go in the half.

Less than a minute later, Fondren found Alexander deep in the post, and she laid the ball up and in. The bucket tied her with Michael and put Syracuse back in front at 22-21 with 8:46 remaining in the half.

Two 3s by VU’s Roberts sandwiched Alexander’s history. The first put Villanova up 21-20. The second fell just 36 seconds later and gave the Wildcats the lead.

Villanova shot 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half, including four by Roberts.

While Roberts carried the load for VU, Hall kept the Orange in the game. She drilled a 14-footer with 2:56 to go, followed by a slashing layup. Both baskets cut Villanova’s lead to two.

With the Wildcats up 35-31, Alexander made history. After missing a layup, Syracuse’s all-time leading scorer retrieved her own rebound and laid the ball in with 1:03 to go. The score put her in sole possession of first place with 1,789 points.

“Obviously you can’t have it happen to a better kid,” Hillsman said. “She came to us and has exceeded every expectation that I’ve had of her.”

But Roberts nailed yet another 3 off a pass from Devon Kane, giving VU its biggest lead of the half, 38-33, heading into the break.

The Wildcats never went up by more than seven, though, as the game tightened down the stretch.

After a layup by Laura Sweeney gave the Wildcats a seven-point lead, SU embarked on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 42. Hall started the run with two free throws and capped it off with a 3-pointer with 16:01 remaining.

Syracuse buckled down on defense and limited Villanova to one field goal in a fast-paced, tenacious chunk spanning six minutes and change.

In a game that featured 13 lead changes and 11 ties, a Roberts 3-pointer with 6:42 remaining gave the Wildcats a 57-54 lead and the final swing.

“On the back end of our press it was tough because we had to go back and get matched up,” Hillsman said. “But give (Roberts) a lot of credit … I thought second half we did a better job of not letting her get them off, but the ones she made we had assignments mixed up.”

Villanova never looked back, outscoring Syracuse 10-5 over the game’s final eight minutes.

The Orange cut the deficit to three on a floater off the glass by Brianna Butler. A VU miss late gave SU a chance to tie it up.

But there was no half-court buzzer beater this time. Tyson-Thomas and Hall missed 3s in the final minute and Villanova walked away with the win.

Said Hillsman: “It was a one-possession game all the way down to the last minute of the game and (Villanova) made a couple free throws. It was back-and-forth the entire game.”

Published on January 26, 2013 at 11:06 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass