Syracuse and Arizona State had been going back and forth all night. When one team had seemingly gained momentum, the other snatched it right back. In the game’s final six minutes, the two teams traded the lead on seven consecutive scoring plays.

And just when it looked like the No. 20 Orange (11-2) would once again retake the advantage with 8 seconds left, an offensive foul call on Brittney Sykes all but sealed a 63-60 win for No. 24 Arizona State (11-1), which couldn’t hold a lead all night. The game saw 10 lead changes and four ties, but the clock eventually ran out on Syracuse, as it dropped its second road game to a ranked team despite 25 points from Brianna Butler.

With the Orange down one, Sykes dribbled into a pack of defenders. The whistle blew, then after a brief pause, the official away from the play sealed Syracuse’s fate by thrusting his hand in the direction of the Sun Devils’ basket.

The string of lead changes had come to a close, and so too had any legitimate hope of SU beating ASU on the road.

“It was a quick charge-block call,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “In those situations you just have to get to the rim and be aggressive and hope that the call goes your way. She did a very good job of attacking the rim, and the call just didn’t go our way.”

The Orange got down early to Sun Devils, falling behind 8-2 and 15-9, but like the SU did all game when faced with a deficit, it fought back. In the first half, it was on the hand of the hot-shooting Butler, who poured in 20 first-half points.

She gave the Orange its first lead on a 3-pointer with seven minutes left in the opening stanza. Five minutes and two lead changes later, a 3 extended that lead to six, and on the next possession her jumper made it eight.

The Orange had seized momentum, and Arizona State called timeout.

“When you have a kind of player that can really make shots and attack the rim is a dual threat, it makes your offense flow,” Hillsman said of Butler. “She had a very good offensive game.”

But in the second half, Butler went cold, and ASU came roaring back to tie the game at 43 on free throws by Kelsey Moos. The game stagnated from there, as the Orange couldn’t build a lead greater than three for the next eight minutes. With six minutes left in the game, the Sun Devils finally captured the lead on a fast-break layup from Moos.

Coming down the stretch it felt like whoever had the ball last would be the one to win it. But the calls didn’t go in SU’s favor.

Hillsman said despite the disappointment, he doesn’t plan to dwell on what could have been, and neither do his players.

“There’s no talking after the game, because the game is over,” Hillsman said. “We get back home and we watch the tape and we don’t try to over-manage close games on the road. We watch tape and we get back in the gym.”

Published on December 31, 2013 at 11:18 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3