The third-largest Carrier Dome crowd of the season rose to its feet as point guard Alexis Peterson hoisted two arms into the air at midcourt and embraced center Briana Day, who was galloping toward her.

Tears streamed down Brittney Sykes’ face. Brianna Butler, who was standing in front of Sykes in the handshake line, wiped hers away.

On the other side of the court, No. 10 Florida State was mostly expressionless — some going through the line with their heads down and scampering off the court as quickly as possible.

“Great quality win for our season,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We knew coming into this game that this was one of the opportunities that we had to beat a very good basketball team and tonight we came out and did that.”

The No. 23 Orange (21-6, 11-3) was dominated down low, getting outrebounded by 13 boards, outscored by 26 in the paint and giving up 14 second-chance points. But SU scrounged up an 83-73 win over No. 10 Florida State (21-5, 11-2), on Thursday night. It was SU’s highest-ranking win of the season and one that’s significance transcends just this year.

“This is a Top 10 team,” Sykes said. “This is a program-changing win.”

The change has been a process.

On Wednesday, one day prior to the game, Hillsman said there was no pressure on Syracuse to win. Nobody was expecting it. And for much of Syracuse’s history, even against non-ranked opponents, that sentiment rang true.

SU’s all-time conference record – which includes both ACC and Big East play – coming into the season sat at just above 41 percent. In its 44-year history the squad had won only 52 percent of its games.

The team didn’t win its first NCAA Tournament game until two years ago — also the first time it reached the tournament in consecutive years.

“There was a time when we were trying just to be .500,” Hillsman said. “We just didn’t want to have a losing season and the goals have changed, they really have, as this program has grown.”

But in 2012, Hillsman brought in Butler, Sykes, Taylor Ford, Cornelia Fondren and others — all seniors who played possibly their last games at the Carrier Dome on Thursday — to make up the sixth-best recruiting class in the country, a record for the Orange. The class’ 72 winning percentage over the last four years is a record, too.

Butler, the 3-point record holder for SU, was the first to lead the charge for SU on Thursday, knocking down four 3-pointers in the first quarter. When she cooled off, Sykes chipped in with 15 points and Fondren added six steals, five assists and nine points.

“A road loss up here isn’t anything to hang our heads about,” Florida State head coach Sue Semrau said. “This was a tough game here tonight.”

Consistent wins over highly ranked opponents have always eluded Syracuse. But SU has beaten three ranked teams this season, the most during Hillsman’s tenure and the most since the 2001-2002 season.

With 30 seconds left on the game clock and the final result all but absolute, the crowd erupted. Cutouts of Butler, Ford, Fondren, and Maggie Morrison bounced above fans’ heads in the stands.

In what could be their last game in Syracuse, the winningest class in team history, the one that started it all, gave Syracuse one of its biggest regular-season wins of all-time.

“Every year we just had to build bigger and bigger,” Sykes said. “We go to NCAA, get the win, go to the second round. Now, going into the post season and finishing out these two games we just want to make more records.”

Published on February 18, 2016 at 11:47 pm

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