With one misplanted step, Memorial Coliseum was deflated.

Brittney Sykes hit the hardwood, screaming in pain as she clutched her right knee. The arena and its 5,404 fans dropped into a dead silence as Quentin Hillsman tried to console Sykes, and her teammates converged to comfort each other while fighting back tears.

“I told her that we’re not here without you,” the Syracuse head coach said after the game. “I told her that you’re the reason why we’re here and no matter what the outcome of the situation is – we thank you for us being here.”

When confronted with its biggest obstacle of the year – witnessing the team’s leading scorer and most colorful personality suffer a devastating injury, and then have to continue playing – Syracuse overcame it.

The No. 6-seed Orange (23-9, 10-6 Atlantic Coast) came together after Sykes’ knee injury and closed out a 59-53 victory over 11th-seeded Chattanooga (29-4, 18-0 Southern) in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday afternoon for the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament win. Syracuse will play No. 3-seed Kentucky on the Wildcats’ home floor Monday at 6:30 p.m. with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

Sophomore Brianna Butler didn’t let her game-long shooting woes deter her from taking over in Sykes’ absence. SU’s No. 2 scorer shot just 2-of-11 from the field and missed all five of her 3-point attempts, but hit 9-of-10 free throws, a layup and dished out an assist down the stretch to seal the win. She finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Hillsman said he is unsure of the extent of Sykes’ injury.

“Obviously with Brittney going down, that could have been a time for them to really nose dive,” Hillsman said, “and they responded, played hard, fought and those kids finished the game for us.”

The Orange shot 30.3 percent in the first half, but corralled 13 offensive rebounds and took advantage of them with 14 second-chance points.

At the 12:51 mark of the second half, Sykes secured a board off a missed Chattanooga free throw. Just as Sykes had done all game, she went right to the basket.

But before she could explode to the rim, her right knee gave out and she went down. Sykes needed assistance to leave the court for the locker room, and wouldn’t return. At the time, she led SU with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The remaining 12:46 of game time looked bleak for the Orange.

Its biggest source of scoring had just limped off the court and its best shooter wasn’t connecting. Somehow, SU would have to make up for Sykes’ energy on defense and her aggression on offense if it was going to prevail.

And Butler answered the call.

“As soon as you see a great player like Brittney Sykes go down, we were definitely a little shook,” Butler said after the game. “We just came out with the mindset that we have to win this game for Brittney and everyone needs to step up the intensity and go hard because every possession mattered.”

Butler netted nine of her 13 points in the last six minutes and found an open Shakeya Leary — who led SU with 15 points — for a bucket that pushed SU’s lead to 10, its largest of the game.

Forward Taylor Hall hit a pair of 3s to bring Chattanooga within four with 1:19 left, but the Orange drained five foul shots in the final minute to wrap up the somber victory.

Said Butler: “We definitely have to stay strong as a team and pick it up intensity-wise and pick up the slack if (Sykes) does or does not return. I just think we need to continue to play hard and keep doing what we do.

“It’s gotten us this far.”

Published on March 22, 2014 at 6:04 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb