Syracuse turns it on late to end Arizona's season, 74-69, in first round of NCAA Women's Tournament

STORRS, Conn. — Twenty-five seconds.

Arizona’s season came down to a game-altering 25 seconds.

That’s all the time it took for All-American Dyaisha Fair to reel off five points — a 3-pointer and a mid-range jumper — to allow No. 6 seed Syracuse to pull away from Arizona, 74-69, in the first round of the NCAA’s Women’s Basketball Tournament Saturday at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday.

Despite UA leading the majority of the game, including a 37-32 lead at halftime, the Orange kept it close enough to pounce at the right time.

With 70 seconds left, Fair knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Syracuse a two-point lead at 68-66 — only the second time the Orange led all game.

The Wildcats marched down the court and found an open Skylar Jones who made a move to the hoop, scored and was fouled. This would have tied the game back up at 68-68 or given the Wildcats a slight edge if Jones made the free throw. But the officials waved it off and said it was a charge.

Fair, who finished with 32 points, then scored on a mid-range jumper on the next offensive possession to make it 70-66 with 45 seconds left, and that was pretty much the game. The Wildcats extended the game with fouls but couldn’t claw closer than three the rest of the way.

“We battled and we played a really good team,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “Syracuse is tough. Fair is a really good player. We had opportunities to win. But credit to them they took us out of our rhythm; their zone really disrupted us. Congratulations to Syracuse. I just don’t think we should hang our heads because we only had seven players and we fought and we had chances to win. (I’m) proud of our team.”

Skylar Jones led all Wildcats with a career-high 24 points. All game long she drove to the hoop, drew fouls and was aggressive with virtually every move. She also grabbed three steals and pulled down six rebounds.

In the thrid quarter, the fouls started piling up for the Wildcats, and the shots stopped falling.

The UA defense made it had for the Orange to get into offensive rhythm much of the game until the fourth quarter when they shot 56% and outscored Arizona 23-18, after fighting back to tie the game at 51 after three quarters.

“Arizona is an incredible team, you know, seven players, it felt like 19 of them out there. They just left it on the line. They wanted it for their story,” Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack said.

“… That’s a great defensive team. That stick-um defense, that’s where that name came from. When I tell you those are ladies that want to play defense and coach that defensive side of the ball. We had to figure out how to get her (Fair) open. We had to figure out who’s guarding her. Is it a small kid, we got an opportunity to score. And that number 13 (Helena Pueyo) is handsy. We had to discern what was the right opportunity for (Fair) to be in attack mode.”

Arizona slowed down Fair in the first half. She only scored three in the first quarter and eight in the second. She put up 13 points in the final frame — after she came back from slipping in the paint and twisting her knee. Fair was carried off the court and returned with a little less than eight minutes left in the game and took over.

Esmery Martinez, who fouled out of the game, finished with five steals, seven points, one block and seven rebounds. Every time someone from Syracuse missed a free throw — and it was a lot as the Orange had 23 chances and made just 12 of them — Martinez was there boxing out to grab a rebound.

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Pueyo and Williams each scored 14 points. Pueyo added four steals, two assists, one block and seven rebounds. Williams added three assists and one steal.

Breya Cunningham scored eight points, pulled down six rebounds and had two blocks.

Syracuse (24-7) and No. 3 seed and host UConn (30-5) square off on Monday, with the winner heading all the way West across the country for Portland, Oregon, and a berth in the tournament’s Sweet 16.

The Wildcats finish their season 18-16 and fly home Sunday morning.

It was the final time that the fifth-years, Pueyo and Martinez, will wear a Wildcat uniform. With tears in her eyes after the game, Pueyo said, “This is my family and they are always going to be my family.”

She said it

Arizona coach Adia Barnes: “I really liked the way that we started the game, I thought we start off and punched first. We always talk about that. I think we control the game. I think we then control the game. Second quarter that’s when the seven players wears on you. … What happens is we got to foul trouble. And then that makes us change things. When we have to sit Esmery and Breya it hurts. We had a 10-point lead and they chipped away. Those things hurt us because then that forced Helena to be at the four. And Helena is much better at the wing for us.”

By the numbers

33:28: Arizona led for nearly 33 and a half minutes of the game. Syracuse led for 2:05.

14: Arizona had 14 assists on 25 made baskets.

13: Syracuse had 13 second chance points.

21: Arizona had 21 turnovers.

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Photos: Syracuse takes over late, defeats Arizona 74-69 in NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament first round