Which Syracuse player would you want taking the game-winning shot SYRACUSE, N.Y.
– The Syracuse women’s basketball team (15-9, 4-7) returns to the Carrier Dome for a two-game homestand starting off with a Tuesday night bout against DePaul at 8 p.m. The game can be seen live on CBS College Sports Network and SUAthletics.com via Orange All Access. It can also be heard live on SUAthletics.com via Orange All Access, WTLA AM 1200 and WJPZ FM 89. Live stats will be available on suathletics.com. ‘Cuse Kids Club members get into Tuesday night’s game free with their membership card. Junior guard Deirdre Naughton leads the way offensively for the Blue Demons with 15.4 points per game. Naughton riddle an opposing defensive with both an inside and outside presence as she is shooting 30.4 percent (38-125) from beyond the arc and had earned a team-best 4.6 trips a game to the charity stripe. She has converted 74.8 percent (89-119) from the line and handed out a team-high 4.6 assist per game. Senior forward Natasha Williams is DePaul’s leading rebounder and shot blocker with 6.3 boards and 1.3 blocks per game. The Syracuse-DePaul battle is the Orange’s shortest-lived conference series as the two squads have only met three times prior. The Blue Demons won the first two games in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, but Syracuse prevailed in the Windy City last season, 69-66. Last Time against DePaulVionca Murray scored a career-high 17 points to lead the No. 22/22 Orange women to a gripping 69-66 victory at No. 23/24 DePaul on Jan 29, 2008. Syracuse secured the win when Chandrea Jones crashed the boards and made the putback with just 12 seconds remaining. Nicole Michael’s two free throws with two seconds remaining sealed the deal for Syracuse. The win was marked SU’s third straight victory in a conference game for the first time since earning two victories at the end of the 2001-02 regular season and winning two more during the BIG EAST Tournament. The victory was also the first against a ranked opponent since it won 76-71 at No. 24/22 at Boston College on Jan. 18, 2003. The Orange held its largest lead of the game of nine points (64-55) with 3:49 remaining as a result of an 11-2 run that started 3:41 earlier when Murray drained two free throws. Erica Morrow kept the momentum going by nailing one from 3-point land a minute later. Syracuse added six straight free tosses, including two by Fantasia Goodwin to cap the run. The Orange won the battle down low by outrebounding the Blue Demons, 44-38, and had 20 second chance points, while DePaul had 16. Syracuse shot 41.3 percent (26-63) from the floor, 26.7 percent (4-15) from behind the arc and 81.3 percent (13-16) from the foul line. The Blue Demons, who entered averaging 82.1 points per game, shot 39.7 percent (25-63) from the floor, 25.0 percent (5-20) from 3-point range and 64.7 percent (11-17) from the line.
One of the BestSyracuse’s current 15-9 mark equals the seventh-best record SU has ever had after 24 games. The Orange was a program-best 19-5 last season. SU was 18-6 during the 1980-81 and 1987-88 seasons. Syracuse was 17-7 during the 1979-80 and 1981-82 seasons. The Orange was also 16-8 in 1985-86. This year’s mark matches that of 1989-90.