Syracuse had just given up a lead it had owned since the 5:47 mark of the first half. North Carolina was up one, on a run of eight unanswered points, and gaining control of a game it once seemed out of.

But Alexis Peterson ended all of that on the simplest of shots. With under four minutes to go, the point guard had an open hole to basket. But instead of laying it in with her weak hand, she set her feet, pulled up and rattled it in to give the Orange the lead for good.

“She competes, and I think that’s the most important part of her game, she just continues to compete the entire game,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “She faces some adversity here and there, but she just continues to play hard.”

Peterson finished with 20 points — the most she’s had against a ranked team — on 6-of-12 shooting and added five assists and three steals while leading No. 25 Syracuse (16-7, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) to a 61- 56 win over No. 13 North Carolina (18-5, 5-4) in the Carrier Dome on Thursday.

With Syracuse up 17-15, Peterson caught a pass from Cornelia Fondren off a Brianna Butler miss and swished a 3. Less than 50 seconds later, Diamond Henderson assisted on Peterson’s second 3 to put the Orange up 24-17.

The pair of 3-pointers propelled Syracuse to an 18-4 run and a 29-19 halftime lead.

“She’s a very good player,” UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “She can come off screens and hit open shots. She’s just a really tough player.”

In the second half, Peterson helped the Orange pull away down the stretch with six points in the final four minutes, including two game-icing free throws.

Against the previous two ranked teams SU had played — No. 8 Louisville and No. 9 Florida State — Peterson shot 5-of-25. On Thursday, she reversed that trend.

“We’ve struggled somewhat against these big teams,” Peterson said. “You can never doubt our heart and our hustle and how we’ve competed in these games.”

Published on February 5, 2015 at 11:12 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3