Women's Basketball

Syracuse women’s basketball unranked for first time this season

Sam Ogozalek | Asst. News Editor

Senior point guard Alexis Peterson (with ball) leads the ACC in scoring, but Syracuse is no longer among the conference's teams ranked in the Top 25.

Another double-digit loss has knocked Syracuse out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time this season. SU had been ranked in each of the last 14 polls dating to Feb. 9, but after its 21-point defeat to Texas A&M and last Thursday’s 15-point loss at No. 8 Louisville, the Orange didn’t appear in the Week 9 poll released Monday afternoon.

Syracuse just missed out on staying ranked, getting 37 votes. Only Tennessee (42) and Colorado (38) garnered more votes without cracking the Top 25.

Before loosing its last two in a row, SU had won five straight, outscoring opponents by an average of 32.8 points. Despite the two losses, senior point guard Alexis Peterson became the first SU player since 2004 with consecutive 30-plus point games.

She still leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring, averaging 23.5 points per game. Her 6.7 assists per game place her second in the ACC and her 3.1 steals per game also rank second. Redshirt senior guard Brittney Sykes averages 18.1 points per game, good for fifth in the conference.

Six ACC teams are ranked this week: No. 6 Florida State, No. 7 Notre Dame (previous No. 2), No. 8 Louisville, No. 13 Duke, No. 14 Miami and No. 18 Virginia Tech. Connecticut (13-0), amid an 88-game win streak, held the top spot.



Syracuse plays three unranked teams this week. It hosts Virginia on Monday night at 7, travels to Clemson on Thursday and hosts Boston College on Sunday afternoon.





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