Syracuse women pull away from Virginia 67-50 in ACC
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Amaya Finklea-Guity led a balanced attack with 15 points and eighth-seeded Syracuse pulled away from ninth-seeded Virginia in the fourth quarter for a 67-50 win on Thursday in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Gabrielle Cooper and Emily Engstler added 13 points apiece, Kiara Lewis had 11 and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi 10 off the bench for the Orange (16-15), who led 53-47 after three quarters.
Syracuse faces top-seeded and fourth-ranked Louisville in the second quarterfinal on Friday.
Djaldi-Tabdi opened the fourth with a pair of free throws and Digna Strautmane hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-47, the first double-figure lead of the game.
Jocelyn Willoughby hit a 3-pointer for the Cavaliers, who won the regular-season meeting 57-41, with 7:30 to play but Virginia never scored again. Syracuse closed the game with nine points and neither team scored in the final 3:17.
Virginia missed its final 15 shots and finished with 26 turnovers.
Willoughby had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Virginia (13-17), and Lisa Jablonowski added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
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