It’s been a down season for Syracuse small forward Brianna Butler. But on Thursday she put herself back on the ascent.

Twice in the final 10 minutes of the second half in SU’s game against Pittsburgh, the small forward hit a go-ahead shot with the game tied. The second came with 5:59 to go in regulation, and gave the Orange a lead it didn’t relinquish.

Butler finished with 14 points — including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc — sharing scoring duties with point guard Alexis Peterson, who also finished with 14. The two led the No. 23 Orange (14-5, 4-2 Atlantic Coast) to a 68-60 victory over the Panthers (12-6, 2-3) at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

“Our kids just gutted it out,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “It was a game that was pretty much won in the last four minutes. I thought we made some great, timely plays.”

Syracuse led 52-46 with nine minutes to go in regulation, but Panthers forward Monica Wignot knocked down back-to-back 3s to tie the score at 52 with 7:19 remaining.

With the score tied again at 54, Butler hit the aforementioned 3 with 5:59 left to give the visitors a 57-54 lead.

“Butler just continued to be aggressive, and we needed her to be aggressive,” Hillsman said. “And that was the key to the game for us. Her being aggressive and getting shots up early, I thought she got us going.”

Peterson then scored five straight points for SU to give the Orange a 62-56 lead with 4:36 left.
Hanging on to a six-point lead, the Orange missed four free throws in the game’s final minute — three from Peterson and one from Diamond Henderson. But Cornelia Fondren and Henderson grabbed offensive rebounds on two Peterson misses.

Peterson then sank two free throws with 30 seconds left to seal the victory.

“That’s about heart and hustle,” Hillsman said. “We didn’t knock them down, but we knocked down the two that mattered to put the game away.”

Published on January 22, 2015 at 10:27 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu