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Syracuse couldn’t get out of its own way. Whether it was Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo picking Dyaisha Fair’s pocket, or Georgia Woolley letting the ball slip from her hands while driving the lane, SU’s turnovers piled up to 15 in the first half — a season-worst. And through three quarters, the giveaway count ballooned to 24.

Yet, good shooting and causing ND turnovers kept the Orange in the game. They were up four at the half and had a slim lead with just over two minutes left in the contest. Syracuse needed a hero to put the game away and upset No. 13-ranked Notre Dame, a program SU had only beaten three times before. It was only fitting that the veteran Fair stepped up.

Storming upcourt with the Orange up 73-71, Fair looked to respond after a Hidalgo bucket. She set her feet at the right wing and pulled up without hesitation, nailing a clutch 3-pointer over ND’s Maddy Westbeld. Hidalgo missed a jumper right after. Then, Fair shut the door on the Fighting Irish, draining her fourth 3 of the game as Syracuse led 79-71.

Fair had begun the game 1-for-8 beyond the arc but finished 4-for-12 after canning three triples late. Through all of their mistakes, all the Orange needed was their mainstay in Fair to secure the win.

“When I stopped hesitating and realized that we’re as good as (Notre Dame) and we belong where they are, that’s where it all came from,” Fair said postgame.

In its Atlantic Coast Conference opener, Syracuse (11-1, 1-0 ACC) shocked No. 13 Notre Dame (9-2, 0-1 ACC) 86-81 in its first-ever win against a ranked Fighting Irish team. Though the Orange committed a season-high 28 turnovers, they forced 24 of their own. All they needed were the performances of Fair (27 points, six steals) and Alyssa Latham (21 points, 12 rebounds) to outmatch the Fighting Irish and their freshman phenom Hidalgo, who finished with a game-high 32 points and seven steals.

“We had to win differently,” said Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack postgame. “We only had three bigs that could play, and we were undersized at every single position. And we chested up.”

The Orange needed a fast start. They couldn’t afford to fall behind by 14 like they did against Cornell on Dec. 18, or trail by seven in the first quarter like they did versus Northeastern on Dec. 4. Notre Dame isn’t a team that’d allow Syracuse to claw its way back from a large deficit.

Starting the game on a 7-0 run, SU had the game in its grasp. Alaina Rice got its offense kick-started by draining a wide-open 3-point look after the opening tip. Then, Hidalgo went the other way off a steal and found KK Bransford inside, but Fair got back quickly in transition and stole it back from Bransford.

Fair launched a downcourt pass for Woolley, who was left uncovered under the basket for an easy lay-in. Latham canned a jumper at the 7:53 mark of the first frame, eliciting ND head coach Niele Ivey to call timeout.

From there, the Fighting Irish unleashed Hidalgo — the country’s third-best scorer and leader in steals per game. Through one half of play, she ended with six steals, equivalent to her 6.0 per game average.

Bransford delivered for ND’s first bucket of the contest following the timeout. On SU’s ensuing possession, Fair was tightly guarded by Hidalgo coming upcourt. Hidalgo poked the ball away from Fair, who dribbled between the legs and went right before taking it coast-to-coast for the lay-in. The basket made it 7-4 Syracuse.

Midway into the quarter, Hidalgo splashed a 3 from the left wing after Fair was late on the closeout, which gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game at 13-11. After Syracuse regained a 17-13 lead with time trickling down in the first, Hidalgo converted back-to-back layups to cap off a nine-point first quarter.

SU wasn’t going to stop Hidalgo. It didn’t need to stall her outright. To keep pace with the Fighting Irish, the Orange began creating their own turnovers.

“We just try to have amnesia, as coach (Legette-Jack) would say when things don’t go our way or when we make a mistake,” Fair said. “And realize that there’s a lot of game left, no matter if it’s five minutes or two minutes.”

On an inbound pass less than a minute into the second quarter, Hidalgo fed Kylee Watson at the free-throw line. She then fired inside for Natalie Marshall but Latham cut into the passing lane and drew a foul on Marshall while battling for the ensuing loose ball. The turnover materialized into offense for Syracuse, as Woolley knocked down two free throws.

Though a few possessions later with SU up 24-21, Fair lost her handle on the ball at the top of the key and Hidalgo grabbed the loose ball. Sitting on the ground, she passed upcourt for Marshall, who drove the rim and drew a foul on Saniaa Wilson, making both ensuing free throws.

Later in the half, Fair pickpocketed Hidalgo near midcourt and blazed upcourt. But she couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing floater, and the Fighting Irish converted a bucket on the other end to shrink their deficit to 34-31.

The Orange couldn’t pull away, despite efficient shooting and strong individual performances from Fair and Latham. The turnovers pushed on, as Rice threw an errant pass into the seats of the JMA Wireless Dome late in the second. Still, ND’s ensuing 3-pointer only gave it a 38-37 lead.

The Fighting Irish’s own 13 first-half turnovers allowed the Orange to stay in the game — and take a surprising lead into halftime.

Appearing mad after Hidalgo turned her over at midcourt, the sixth steal of the opening half for the freshman guard, Fair crept up behind Hidalgo with about 20 seconds on the clock. She poked the ball away from Hidalgo and took it to the rim for an open layup.

Then, after Bransford coughed it up, Fair raced upcourt with time winding down as Hidalgo ran stride-for-stride with her. Fair pulled up from mid-range, losing Hidalgo in the process, and canned the jumper to beat the halftime buzzer, putting the Orange up 41-38.

Syracuse needed to hold its momentum that spurred from turnovers. Through one half, the Orange had 17 points off turnovers as opposed to the Fighting Irish’s eight. Although, in the third quarter, ND scored 14 points off SU giveaways. Notre Dame went on a 6-0 run to finish the quarter, stemming from a Latham turnover off a charging call. Westbeld converted a layup right afterward. Anna DeWolfe followed up Westbeld’s score with a lay-in to make it 63-61 ND.

After Fair brought the ball upcourt looking for a response, she fired an errant no-look pass into a flood of ND defenders, as Westbeld ended up with the steal. She was fouled by Latham on that end and with Notre Dame in the bonus, Westbeld sank two free throws giving Notre Dame a 65-61 lead through three quarters.

Still, Syracuse wasn’t going away. Kyra Wood made sure of it.

The forward got things going for the Orange with a put-back layup over a minute in. Right after, Kennedi Perkins swiped the ball from Hidalgo’s control early and dished it to Fair sprinting across midcourt. Fair slowed down, faked as if she was taking a 3, and fed a cutting Wood under the basket for a lay-in, which tied the game up at 65-65.

With time ticking below the 4:00 mark, ND kept on forcing SU into mistakes. DeWolfe intercepted an errant pass from Woolley and kicked it out to Hidalgo to start Notre Dame’s transition offense. But Hidalgo blew the layup chance, as Wilson hauled in the rebound.

It left Syracuse the chance to take a commanding lead. And it did — courtesy of Fair. She drained a 3-pointer off a feed from Perkins, giving the Orange a 71-67 lead and commencing Fair’s late-game takeover, one that the Fighting Irish couldn’t answer.

“I saw us get better,” Legette-Jack said. “Right now, (the win) just means that we beat a great team.”

Published on December 31, 2023 at 4:18 pm

Contact Cooper at: [email protected] | @cooper_andrews