Brianna Butler finally proved Thursday night why she was once given the green light to shoot whenever she wants.

With SU down six points and 1:50 remaining in regulation against No. 13 Duke, she grabbed an offensive rebound, stepped back and drained a 3-pointer. Moments later, with the Orange trailing by three and 52 seconds to go, Butler sank another 3 to tie the game.

Despite the heroics, the Blue Devils (11-4, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) responded with two made free throws to take a 74-72 lead with 26 seconds left, and that score would stand as No. 21 Orange (10-5, 0-2) missed two in-close floaters as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“You’ve got to have some fight,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We made some plays to get ourselves back into the ball game.”

Butler finished with a season-high 23 points, five rebounds and four steals. Point guard Alexis Peterson added 18 and four steals, and Diamond Henderson finished with 15 points.

SU trailed Duke by as many as 15 points in the first half, but connected on 13 3-pointers – seven from Butler – and out-hustled a Blue Devils team it lost to by 33 points last season.

“I thought Brianna was great,” Hillsman said. “She did a really good job of hitting her shots. She maintained an aggressive attitude on the offensive end.”

Syracuse trailed by eight at halftime, but a stellar defensive effort – the Orange forced 15 total turnovers and out-rebounded the Blue Devils 37-35 – kept the Orange within striking distance. The Orange also grabbed a staggering 19 offensive rebounds, more than its 18 on the defensive glass.

“We did a good job of getting into our traps and getting into the passing lanes,” Hillsman said. “ … Overall, we got stops and forced shots at the end of the shot clock. We got some steals, got down the court, and that was the key for us getting back into the basketball game.”

Peterson connected on a layup with 7:06 left in regulation to bring the Orange to within 10 at 65-55. Two minutes later, the guard hit a 3 to cut Duke’s lead to 65-59.

With nearly three and a half minutes remaining, Butler hit her fifth 3 of the night, from the right wing, to bring the Orange to within three at 67-64.

But on SU’s final possession, trailing 74-72, Henderson missed a short floater from the left baseline. Cornelia Fondren grabbed the rebound, but missed a layup from the right side as time expired.

With the loss, the Orange once again fell to a top-25 opponent, bringing its season record to 0-5 record against such opponents.

Said Hillsman: “I thought we did a good job of putting some fight into our game, and that’s what you’ve got to have.”

Published on January 8, 2015 at 11:08 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu