After Georgetown’s Katie McCormick drained a 3-pointer 2:34 into the second half Tuesday, the Hoyas were rolling. With a home crowd and an eight-point lead, GU appeared in good shape to pull out an upset victory and move closer to the middle of the conference pack.

But from that point forward, Syracuse came to play.

Syracuse outscored Georgetown by 17 points in the final 17:26, turning the tide and leaving Washington, D.C., with a 69-60 victory in the final Big East matchup between the rivals. Freshman guard Brianna Butler paced the Orange with a season-high 16 points. With the win, No. 23 Syracuse (20-3, 8-2 Big East) moves into sole possession of third place in the conference, and further strengthens its position for an NCAA Tournament bid.

“Very sloppy in the beginning. We didn’t shoot the ball well,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “But our defense was tremendous. We generated pressure, and we created turnovers.”

Aside from Butler, SU’s senior leaders turned in another sound effort to complement their consistent play throughout the middle of the conference slate. Guard Elashier Hall went 7-for-8 from the foul line and led the seniors with 14 points. Center Kayla Alexander added 13 of her own, going 7-for-13 from the line.

When McCormick’s 3 put Georgetown up 35-27, it concluded a 14-2 Hoyas run that spanned the final 3:06 of the first half and into the second. At that point, however, Hall geared into action to ensure the run wouldn’t continue. The newly minted, 1,000-point career scorer nailed a jumper on the next possession to take advantage of an offensive rebound by Carmen Tyson-Thomas, and converted a steal 20 seconds later into two free throws, pulling SU within four.

The Orange tied the game with baskets by Alexander and Butler on the next two possessions, and Hall nailed a 3 after two SU offensive rebounds for a 38-35 lead. By the time McCormick finally scored Georgetown’s next points at the 13:30 mark, a 15-0 Syracuse run had shifted the score from 35-27 GU to 42-35 SU.

Syracuse did not trail again.

“We got stops and we converted,” Hillsman said of the 15-0 run. “We got rebounds and steals, and we got out in transition.”

Butler’s 16 points came on a 6-for-17 night from the field, including a 4-for-14 effort from beyond the arc. The abundance of shots was a product of Butler’s ability to get open throughout the game, and Hillsman said he had no problem with the shooting output.

“She could’ve shot six more, to be honest with you,” Hillsman said. “She was open, she had to shoot it. They were good ones, and she was wide open.”

Georgetown’s leading scorer this season has been guard Sugar Rodgers, whose 22.5 points per game are more than double that of the team’s next leading scorer. The Orange defense held Rodgers’ attack in check Tuesday to the tune of a 1-for-12 effort from the field and eight points total.

“She’s a good player, a tremendous talent,” Hillsman said. “We didn’t want to let her shoot. We had to get to her on the catch, and we did a good job making sure she was highly contested.”

The effort added up to the Orange’s fourth consecutive win as the team heads down the home stretch of the regular season. Syracuse trails only Notre Dame and Connecticut in the conference standings, with a matchup at Notre Dame looming on Feb. 26.

The team now turns its attention to a pair of home matchups against Pittsburgh and Rutgers in the next week. At 20-3 overall, the team appears very much in control of its destiny, looking to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years and give the senior class its first taste of big time postseason competition.

But as Hillsman said, the focus remains on the present.

“Way too early to think about the tournament,” Hillsman said. “We’ve still got a tough schedule, a lot of big conference games. We’ve just got to continue to play hard.”

Published on February 13, 2013 at 1:14 am

Contact Kevin: kmprisei@syr.edu