Alexander leads Orange in loss to Louisville

The Syracuse women’s basketball team (15-7, 7-5) fell to Louisville (18-7, 7-5) 89-62 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center. Junior center Kayla Alexander scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds but it wasn't enough to hold off the Cardinals.

The Orange had two other players score in double-figures with sophomore guard Rachel Coffey and junior guard Elashier Hall, both of whom scored 11 points.

Alexander made her sixth double-double of the season, and 14th of her career. It was also her eighth 20-plus point game of the season. The game leaves her No. 8 on the Syracuse all-time scoring list with 1,296 points.

Louisville’s senior guard Becky Burke scored a career-high of 28 points, which was good for a Louisville school-record. Burke had eight 3-pointers in 15 attempts and led a strong Cardinals offense that shot 58.1 percent from 3-point range, scoring 54 of their 89 points from behind the arc.

It was the Cardinals incredible shooting that allowed them to win the game. Louisville’s sophomore guard Shoni Schimmel scored 20 points, 6-of-10 from behind the arc, and also gave Louisville 10 assists. In addition to outshooting the Orange, the Cardinals outrebounded Syracuse 34-33, had more than twice as many assists (21-10) and about half the turnovers (11-19).

After keeping up with Lousiville in the first half by shooting 57.1 percent from the field, the Orange then shot 28 percent in the second half. The Cardinals had a 51-40 halftime advantage and ran away with the game in the second half, adding 16 more points to their lead.

Syracuse returns home for action to host Marquette on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. The game is SU’s Play 4Kay game where fans that are wearing pink can purchase tickets for $5.