Happy birthday, Brittney Sykes.

Just hours before the star sophomore guard turned 20 years old, the player who wears No. 20 on her back turned in a special performance in front of 506 Thursday night at the Carrier Dome.

Sykes scored a career-high 31 points – 21 of which came in the first half – and added eight rebounds, leading Syracuse (17-6, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) to a 73-48 victory over Virginia Tech (11-11, 1-8).

“She could have had 71 tonight,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said.

Sykes sat on 27 points for 4:34 – a span that included a missed free throw, 56 seconds on the bench and a missed jump shot. But with 8:29 to go in regulation, Sykes caught an outlet pass from Rachel Coffey on the left side of the lane and laid it in off the glass.

“Usually it takes me until the second half to realize what the defense is doing and how they’re playing me,” Sykes said. “But my teammates were giving me the ball and were trusting me. I was finding the open gaps, and luckily I was scoring the ball early and was on a roll.”

Sykes, who until Thursday averaged only 6.8  first-half points on 39-percent shooting in ACC play, began the night with a hot hand. She outscored the entire Hokies team 8-7 at the 14:04 mark of the first half, and the Orange led 13-7.

Two minutes later, Sykes blew by Hokies guard Vanessa Panousis and hit a layup to extend SU’s lead to 15-8. Moments later, Taylor Ford intercepted a pass and quickly threw it ahead to Coffey, who then tapped it underneath to Sykes for another layup.

Sykes was all over the floor, curling around screens and  hitting several jumpers. The 5-foot-9 guard hit a high-arcing jump shot over 6-footer Lauren Evans to give SU a 17-8 lead.

Several fans sitting courtside enjoyed the Sykes Show. When Sykes rose for a jumper from the left corner, Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross raised his hand in anticipation. When the shot back-rimmed, Special Assistant to the Athletics Director Floyd Little yelled, “Keep shooting, Britt!”

She didn’t need the reminder.

With 9:17 left in the first half, Sykes hit a jumper to put the Orange up 26-12, and moments later converted a three-point play to extend the lead to 29-12.

Another layup and two more free throws and Sykes led the Hokies 20-15. Syracuse led Virginia Tech 33-15 with 6:42 remaining in the half.

At the end of the first half, the Orange held a 43-22 lead. Of the 43, Sykes had 21.

“I looked up and I didn’t even know I had 21,” Sykes said. “All my teammates were cheering, and the only thing I was worried about was making sure I carried that energy into the second half so we could put the game away.”

Sykes’ first points of the second half didn’t come until 14:28 – a 12:14 span since she had last scored in the first half. Sykes tied her career-high 27 with a layup with 13:03 left gave the Orange a 35-point lead at 60-27.

The culmination of the night came on a quintessential Sykes play – she took a feed from Coffey and went right down the middle of the lane and hit a layup.

Sykes came out with 5:26 left in the game and took a seat next to Brianna Butler. The team’s second-leading scorer let out a wide grin gave her friend a congratulatory tap on the head.

“We’ve got more games to look forward to,” said guard Cornelia Fondren. “I think she can have better games than these – offensively and defensively. … We have more games to come, and she has better games to play.”

Published on February 6, 2014 at 11:32 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu