The Syracuse Orange (12-2, 2-1) women’s basketball team got 2026 started off on the right foot. Bouncing back from their loss against Duke, the Orange led from start to finish as they knocked off the Florida State Seminoles (5-10, 0-3) 82-72 in front of a crowd of 2,713 in the JMA Dome.
Uche Izoje dominated with 21 points, 17 rebounds and 4 blocks in 30 minutes. Izoje was 10-13 from the field as the Seminoles had no answer for the Syracuse freshman. Dominique Darius added 19 points and 5 assists while Sophie Burrows came off the bench to add 12 points and 8 rebounds.
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Journey Thompson took Burrows’ place in the starting line-up and the change seemed to ignite the Orange as they got off to an early 10-2 lead and continued to put some distance between themselves and the Seminoles as they ended the first quarter with a 26-14 lead. Laila Phelia opened the 2nd quarter with a 3, but then FSU got going and cut the lead down to 8 before Izoje took over for a stretch and Aurora Almón chipped in 6 points off the bench including a shot at the buzzer to make it a 43-33 game at the half.
After the break, Florida State scored the first four points, but the Orange responded with four of their own and the third quarter featured a lot of back and forth. The Seminoles kept chipping away and Syracuse would hold them off like this 3 from Darius when FSU had made it a 54-50 game
Syracuse led 62-51 after 3 and the Seminoles kept on pushing back in the 4th thanks to their 3-point shooting. FSU cut the Syracuse lead to 70-67 after Allie Kubek’s 3 with 3:27 to play, but Izoje pushed it back to 6. But the Seminoles wouldn’t go away and they got the score to 74-72 with 1:20 to go. Once again, Izoje delivered inside and then the Orange sealed the game with free throws.
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Syracuse dominated the rebounding battle by a 56-29 margin, including 22 offensive rebounds. The Orange doubled up FSU 48-24 in points in the paint and 24-12 in fast break points. It was 20 Syracuse turnovers and FSU’s 11-4 edge on three-pointers that kept this from being a blowout. Still, the fact that the Orange kept their composure when the Seminoles got close is a good sign.
The Orange hit the road to face Wake Forest (12-3, 2-1) on Sunday afternoon. That game will tip at 2:00 and will stream on ACCNX.
