Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Throughout the first three quarters, Syracuse couldn’t pull away from Pittsburgh.

Pitt’s Liatu King scored her 11th field goal 15 seconds into the fourth quarter and the Panthers trailed 53-47. But from there, the Orange put their foot on the gas, leaving no room for Pitt to pull out their first conference win of the season.

SU went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes, growing the lead to 14 — its largest of the game. After Alaina Rice canned a 3, Dyaisha Fair nailed a second-chance triple, Saniaa Wilson made a pair of second-chance free throws and Rice converted on three more free throws after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt.

“I’m loving the fact that we’re doing great in the fourth quarter, last year was the complete opposite,” SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said postgame. “So we’re getting better. We’re just not where we need to be, but we’re getting closer as we’re getting closer to the end of the season.”

Syracuse’s (16-2, 6-1 ACC) early fourth-quarter run gave it the necessary cushion to defeat Pittsburgh (6-13, 0-6 ACC) 72-59. After one of their best wins of the season against No. 15 Florida State Thursday, the Orange didn’t play their best against the Panthers, shooting only 36.8% from the field. But Syracuse made 10 3s compared to Pitt’s two — helping SU extend its winning streak to five games and defeat the Panthers for the 25th consecutive time. The Orange’s 16-2 record is their best start to a season since 2012-13, where they finished 24-8 before falling to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Georgia Woolley, who played a season-low 18 minutes against Florida State on Thursday, kicked off the scoring with a mid-range jumper, but the Orange proceeded to miss their next five shots. In that time, King, whose 19.8 points per game rank fifth in the ACC, went on a personal 5-0 run.

After a 3-point miss from Rice, Pitt pushed the ball down the court before finding King at the 3-point line. King hasn’t attempted a 3 all season, so she corralled the ball and took two dribbles before nailing a mid-range shot. Then, after SU forward Alyssa Latham missed an inside look, Pitt’s Jasmine Timmerson pulled down the rebound and got the ball to King, who drove coast to coast for an easy layup.

On the Orange’s next possession, Rice missed another 3 and King grabbed the rebound. On the other end, Latham fouled King who split the pair of ensuing free throws. Though Kyra Wood and Fair converted on back-to-back scores, the Panthers regained an 8-6 lead at the midway point of the quarter.

Wilson tied the game 8-8 after converting a step-through layup, but the Panthers closed the quarter on a 9-4 run — with Woolley scoring all four of SU’s points — taking a 17-12 lead into the second quarter. Throughout the first frame, the Orange shot 6-for-19 from the field and 0-for-7 from 3. Meanwhile, King scored nine of her game-high 27 points, shooting 4-for-4 from the field.

“We’re still not a complete team because you got to be able to start the game faster,” Legette-Jack said.

A minute and a half into the second, after King tacked on three more points, Fair finally got the Orange going from deep, nailing a 3 from the top of the key. After the Orange got a defensive stop, Rice penetrated the lane before drawing a foul. She went 1-for-2 from the line, but after grabbing a defensive rebound on the other end, she got the ball to Woolley who converted an and-one, bringing the Orange within one.

On the ensuing possession, Syracuse made a defensive adjustment, putting another body on King down low. The new defense worked, as Fair picked up a steal before dishing ahead to Woolley for an easy layup, her 11th point, to give the Orange a 21-20 lead.

Syracuse grew its second-quarter scoring run to 12-0, creating a 24-20 lead, but King cut the lead in half after ending the Panthers’ four-minute scoring drought. Over the next four minutes, despite struggling from the field earlier in the game, Fair went 3-for-4 from deep while the Orange held Pitt to only two points from King, extending SU’s lead to nine.

Over the last minute of the half, Pitt’s Jala Jordan converted on her first basket and King followed that up with her 18th point, but Wood nailed two free throws to give SU a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Orange kicked off the second half just as they left off the second quarter: dominant. To kick off scoring, Fair drove inside the key before dishing a no-look, behind-the-back pass to Woolley who canned her first 3 of the game.

Defensively, the Orange forced two turnovers in the first two minutes of the half, helping to keep Pitt off the board. After Pitt’s Rapuluuchi Ayodele coughed the ball up, Syracuse set its offense. The Panthers played stout defense for 27 seconds, but Fair again found an open Woolley from behind the arc, who cashed in her second triple of the night extending SU’s lead to 41-28.

But over the next four and a half minutes, the Orange were held to two points on a second-chance layup from Wilson — allowing the Panthers to go on a 10-2 run. Looking to get SU out of its slump, Wilson tried converting again from inside, but her shot was blocked. Sophie Burrows corralled the offensive rebound, but it looked as if the Panthers had the Orange clamped — until Fair got the ball from behind the arc.

Late in the shot clock, Fair heaved a high-arcing 3, hitting nothing but net to extend SU’s lead back to eight — her fifth of a game-high 6 3s. Over the final three minutes of the third, the teams traded baskets, but a 3 from Woolley — giving her 20 points — helped the Orange take a 53-45 into the fourth quarter.

The Panthers tried cutting into SU’s 14-point lead, but couldn’t get within striking distance as the Orange held on to win 72-59 for their sixth ACC victory.

“It’s really neat to see us play bad and still have success. It shows that we can kind of play at all kinds of levels. Down by… Up by… Not looking good, but yet we still prevail,” Legette-Jack said.

Published on January 21, 2024 at 4:16 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon