The Orange were beaten by 10 against Notre Dame on Thursday, hurting their position in the ACC standings.
The Syracuse University women's basketball team suffered a tough loss on Thursday night against Notre Dame, falling 72-62 in South Bend, Ind.
With the loss, the Orange are now 21-7 on the season. They are 11-6 inside Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play. Notre Dame improved to 19-9 and is also 11-6.
As a result of the loss, SU is now in a tie for fifth place in the league standings.
Here's what you need to know:
Phalia gets going
After failing to hit the 20-point mark in each of the last five games, senior Lalia Phelia scored a team-high 23 points in 38 minutes. She also had three steals and only committed one turnover.
The Cincinnati, Ohio native had scored 11, 17, 3, and 5 points in the previous four games before this scoring outburst. The Orange are better when she's a more active contributor offensively. She's averaging 13.6 ppg for the season. The 23 points is tied for her second-most in any game this season. She had 38 against Virginia on Jan. 11.
Inside the numbers
--In addition to Phalia, Syracuse had two other players score in double-figures. Freshman Uche Izoje had 12 points while Dominique Darius had 10.
--Phalia shot 7-of-17 from the floor, but she was just 1-of-7 from three-point range. As a team, the Orange were just 4-of-20 from downtown.
--Syracuse committed 22 turnovers vs. just 11 assists recorded.
--Star guard Hannah Hidalgo scored a game-high 27 points from Notre Dame. She was 11-of-21 from the floor.
--Notre Dame was only 2-of-13 from three-point range, but they shot 47 percent from the floor (29-of-62).
--Syracuse actually out-rebounded the Irish 40-33, but Notre Dame only had 15 turnovers.
What else worked well
The Orange were 12-of-15 (80 percent) at the foul line. If you're going to struggle from deep, you have to be able to capitalize at the line, and they did.
Needs Improvement
Scoring depth. Syracuse got just eight points from the bench, and Sophie Burrows had just nine points in 38 minutes. In order to beat top half of the conference teams, the Orange need contributions from everywhere, and Izoje only getting 12 coupled with Burrows' nine just isn't enough.
What's next
The Orange will have a quick turnaround, finishing out the regular season on Sunday (March 1) at 2:00 p.m. ET against Boston College. The Eagles are 1-16 in the league.
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