Syracuse women’s basketball demolishes Central Connecticut, 116-65

The Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team continued its newfound era of good feelings with a huge 116-65 win over the visiting Central Connecticut State Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.

The 51-point triumph was Syracuse’s biggest margin of victory against a Division I foe since they beat UT Rio Grande Valley 91-32 back in late 2015.

Four Syracuse players reached double-figures by the half, with six of the eight players finishing the game with 13 or more points. None showed out more than Teisha Hyman.

Hyman had her second straight dominant game, flirting not with a triple-double but with a quadruple-double. She had 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting, making both of her three-point attempts. Hyman dished out a ridiculous 15 assists and swiped 11 steals. Oh, and she added eight rebounds.

It was the best game someone clad in white and orange had in a very long time.

Chrislyn Carr added 22 points on nine-of-14 shooting. The other Carr, Christianna, had 17 in just 18 minutes.

Alaysia Styles had 16, while Naje Murray and Alaina Rice chipped in with 13 points each.

After scoring 97 points against No. 18 Ohio State on Wednesday, the Orange could have been forgiven for cooling off a bit. Even though there is finally air conditioning in the Dome, Syracuse blazed its way to 65 first-half points, shooting 28-for-41 (68 percent) from the floor in the first 20 minutes.

The Orange (5-4) finished 48-for-77 (62 percent) from the field on the afternoon and 10-of-24 from three-point range. That means they made 38-of-53 from inside the arc in a dominant performance. With those numbers, it’s no surprise that they scored 68 points in the paint, blowing away their previous season-high.

Syracuse forced 29 turnovers and scored a whopping 49 points off those giveaways. Two weeks ago, no one would have had predicted such a dominating performance.

It was clear from the tip that this would be a fast-paced game. After five minutes, the Orange had a narrow 15-13 lead. From there, they outscored CCSU 101-52. Hyman and the Carrs keyed a 13-0 run to end the first quarter with the home team up 28-13.

Syracuse really ramped it up in the second quarter. Christianna Carr put the Orange up an even 30 with two minutes left in the half. Syracuse finished with a flourish, with scoring from Hyman and Chrislyn Carr to make it 65-29 after 20 minutes.

When a team’s roster is as thin as Syracuse’s is, sometimes it is difficult to take the foot off the pedal. The lead continued growing. Hyman hit a three to make it 75-35 with 6:13 left in the third. Chrislyn Carr nailed another triple to get the advantage to 90-44 in the last minute of the third.

Little-used reserve Ava Irvin hit a jumper to get the Orange into triple-digits, and the lead reached 50 when Rice made it 110-60 with a layup.

It almost goes without saying that Syracuse played their most complete game off the season. They went well past 100 points while holding the Blue Devils in check by forcing all of those turnovers.

Fairfield transfer Eden Nibbelink led CCSU with 17 points on seven-of-nine shooting.

There is a chance CCSU is the worst team Syracuse will face this year, but the Orange did what good teams do: take care of business. They will be back in business when they look to extend their winning streak to four games against Cornell on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.