Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team advances to title game

The Syracuse University women’s basketball team appeared at the school’s mid-week pep rally at Manley Field House. (Eric Reinhardt / BJNN)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University’s women’s basketball team (30-7) is headed for its first-ever national championship game in Indianapolis on Tuesday night following an 80-59 win over the Washington Huskies in an NCAA Tournament national semifinal game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Number 4 seed Syracuse made 12 three-point shots, used suffocating pressure defense to force 18 turnovers, and led wire to wire to eliminate number 7 seed Washington. The Orange also dominated the boards, grabbing 46 rebounds to only 28 for the Huskies.

Alexis Peterson paced Syracuse with 18 points and Brittney Sykes chipped in 17.

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The Syracuse women will next play the dominant UConn Huskies for all the marbles on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. in the national title game. UConn, led by former Cicero-North Syracuse High School star Breanna Stewart, trounced Oregon State by a national semifinal round record 29 points in Sunday night’s first Final Four game.

UConn (37-0), which has won 74 straight games, is seeking its fourth consecutive national championship. The data analytics website, fivethirtyeight.com currently gives UConn a 97 percent chance to win the title again, while it offers Syracuse just a 3 percent chance.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com

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Adam Rombel: