Women’s basketball wins finale vs. Boston College, earns 8 seed for ACC tournament

Women's basketball beats Boston College in season finale

Three seniors were recognized during the final home game of the season.
Published: February 26, 2018

Syracuse women’s basketball outscored Boston College 24-18 in the fourth quarter to break away and defeat the Eagles 69-63.

Before the game, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman and the women’s basketball program honored Abby Grant, Jasmine Nwajei and Marisa Romeo during Senior Day celebrations.

From the opening drive, the Orange were ready to compete. Junior guard Miranda Drummond scored an elbow three on a pass from sophomore guard Tiana Mangakahia. Freshman forward Digna Strautmane took a similar shot as Drummond, but hers hit the back rim and bounced out of bounds. At one point in the quarter, Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 ACC) led Boston College (7-22, 2-14) 18-7 following Strautmane’s second basket of the game.

The Eagles flew back in the second quarter. Georgia Pineau found Milan Bolden-Morris on back to back possessions to make it a 30-29 game with 2:13 minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Orange were held scoreless for over four minutes until Mangakahia found space on a step-back three to give the Orange a two-point lead into halftime.

Syracuse started the third quarter fast, grabbing early buckets from Amaya Finklea-Guity and Strautmane. Boston College didn’t score for almost five minutes to start the half until Pineau scored a pair at the free-throw line. This sparked another run for the visiting team and Taylor Ortlepp scored two-straight threes to tie the game at 45 after three quarters.

Syracuse pulled away from Boston College in the fourth quarter to earn its 10th ACC win of the season. Despite trailing 52-49 at one point, Coach Hillsman’s team went on a 15-6 run thanks to second chance points and defensive stops to end the game 69-63.

Syracuse begins its ACC tournament schedule on March 1 when they play Virginia Tech. The Hokies gave Syracuse its first home loss of the season on Feb. 1. The game starts at 2 p.m.