No. 16/19 Syracuse women’s basketball routs Old Dominion, 92-66

There was no rust for the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team on Tuesday night after a 10-day break. The no. 16/19 Orange defeated the Old Dominion Monarchs 92-66 to open the Florida Sunshine Classic in Winter Park, Fla. SU improves to 9-3 on the year while ODU falls to 5-4.

The Orange started slow, leading just 16-15 after the first quarter. But the team began to pull away in the second quarter, and went into halftime with a 41-34. Things would really open up in the third quarter, however, as SU broke out for 32 points in the period (to 22 for the Monarchs).

While they weren’t her only points of the night, SU’s performance was highlighted by some buzzer-beating heroics from leading scorer Alexis Peterson. Peterson, who averages 22 points per game, had 27 against ODU to continue to boost her season-long marks. She managed three-pointers in the final seconds of both the second and third quarters, including a 30-foot runner to beat the horn in the third.

Peterson was far from the only Orange player to put points on the board either. Four SU players were in double figures: Peterson (27), Brittney Sykes (20), Gabby Cooper (19) and Bria Day (15). Day led Syracuse with 11 rebounds, though the team was out-rebounded 36-33 on the evening. The Orange also had 22 steals, keeping up their torrid pace for forced turnovers on the year.

***

Next up for the Orange women is Texas A&M on Wednesday. The Aggies are 8-3 and coming off a big loss to Dayton in their own Florida Sunshine Classic opener on Tuesday night. It will be the final non-conference game of the year for Syracuse, who will take another longer break (eight days) before opening up ACC play with top-10 Louisville.