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Women's Basketball

Syracuse earns No. 8 seed, will face 9th-seeded Nebraska in Columbia, South Carolina

By Josh Hyber

Syracuse (21-9, 11-5 Atlantic Coast) has earned a No. 8 seed in the Greensboro Region of the NCAA tournament and will play No. 9-seed Nebraska on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Columbia, South Carolina. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

If Syracuse defeats the Cornhuskers (21-10, 10-8 Big Ten), it will advance to play the winner of No. 1-seed South Carolina and No. 16-seed Savannah State, a game that will take place on Friday at 5 p.m.

“We understand that going to the (NCAA) tournament three years in a row is big, and that’s what we want to do every year is to get into the tournament and have a chance to win the national championship,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We’re very excited about the opportunity.”

Hillsman said that he knew some about the Cornhuskers before the announcement was made and quickly researched them before he spoke to the media. Hillsman said he knows Nebraska is a good rebounding team and a “decent” 3-point shooting team.

The Cornhuskers will be without leading scorer Rachel Theriot, whose season ended early because of an ankle injury she suffered in practice on Feb. 3. The guard underwent surgery on Feb. 19 and missed Nebraska’s final eight regular-season games.



“As soon as you get the draw, you go and do a little bit of homework,” Hillsman said. “… I’ve seen them some. They’re a very good basketball team, so we’ve got a really, really tough game ahead of us.”

If SU advances past the Cornhuskers, it may have a rematch with South Carolina, which beat the Orange 67-63 on Nov. 28 in the championship game of the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas. The Orange, though, led by 10 points with seven minutes to go in regulation.

The Greensboro bracket also features a pair of ACC foes in second-seeded Florida State and No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Orange fell to the then-No.9 Seminoles 62-52 on Feb. 2 in Tallahassee and upset the then-No. 13 Tar Heels 61-56 on Feb. 5 in the Carrier Dome.

“We’re going to be ready for this game,” Hillsman said. “Obviously, it’s Monday. The game is Friday, so we have plenty of time to get our legs under us and prepare.”





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