Syracuse defeats No. 21/18 women's basketball 81-65

The Syracuse women came to play Tuesday night.

The Orange (17-11, 6-8) came into this one winless against top 25 teams, and based on their play Tuesday night they weren't going to finish that way. The Orange handed DePaul only their second home loss of the season, 81-65.

Syracuse opened up with an amazing display of energy on both ends of the court. The Orange's 2-3 zone was almost impossible to break apart. The Blue Demons would fall victim to 11 turnovers in the first half as well as six steals. The Orange had a combination of athleticism and confidence that proved to be too much for DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno's squad.

No. 21/18 DePaul (20 -8, 8-6) was coming off a win at West Virginia that had extended their winning streak to three games.

"You have to be able to understand the resolve necessary to come back from a great win at West Virginia and come and protect your home court," said Bruno. " I did not think we had the maturity to do that tonight, and I did not think we had it in the practice we had on Monday."

Syracuse's Rachel Coffey shot the lights out connecting on 4-of-6 three-pointers that kept the Orange comfortable in the first half. Syracuse center Kayla Alexander also connected on 3-of-6 from the inside.

Syracuse is ranked No. 15 in the Big East in 3-point percentage with 24 percent, but Tuesday night it seemed they were feeling it, knocking down 45 percent of threes in the first half.

The Orange would put together a 15 – 2 run halfway through the first that forced Bruno to change his team's defensive strategy.

The Blue Demons would shift into a 3-2 zone to force the Orange to make bad passes, but unfortunately the Orange were firing from all cylinders giving the Demons too much to handle on the defensive end.

DePaul had to keep up with the hot-shooting Orange by driving inside. Jasmine Penny and Anna Martin would score a combined 16 in the first half, and at halftime DePaul trailed 37 – 36.

The second half wasn't any easier for DePaul, who got the wind taken out of their sails early, shooting 30 percent. DePaul would attempt 17 threes in the second half and only connect on two. The Blue Demons tried to match up with the Orange on offense, but were inconsistent.

Katherine Harry was one of the only sparks for DePaul in the second half, scoring seven points and grabbing two boards. Harry finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds.

Midway through the second half Syracuse would go on a 23 – 0 run that capped the game. Coffey sank two more threes, adding to her six points on the game. The guard shot 75 percent from beyond the arc and was virtually unguardable. The Blue Demons' zone always left her open in the corner of the floor and that's where she connected.

Junior Carmen Tyson – Thomas grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 14 points in the second giving the 5-9 junior a double-double.

Tyson – Thomas would record a team high three steals in the game.

Syracuse was too good from the outside, shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc.

"I thought we just did a very good job making shots," Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman said. "We had the floor spread out, and I thought that when we had opportunities to take open shots, we did. That was a huge part of us scoring the basketball, we got the floor spread. And defensively, we did a very good job of recognizing and locating their shooters."