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Dyaisha Fair passes Brittney Griner on scoring list, leads No. 17 Syracuse's rally past Pitt women

The Syracuse University Women's basketball team takes on the Pittsburgh Panthers at the JMA Wireless Dome Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024.
Jason Smith
/
WRVO
The Syracuse University Women's basketball team takes on the Pittsburgh Panthers at the JMA Wireless Dome Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Dyaisha Fair scored 23 points to move into fifth place on the career scoring list and her 15 fourth-quarter points led a late rally by No. 17 Syracuse in a 63-53 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Fair passed Brittney Griner, who scored 3,283 points for Baylor from 2009 through 2013, and trails only Jackie Stiles (3,393), Kelsey Mitchell (3,402), Kelsey Plum (3,527) and Caitlin Clark (3,617) on the women's NCAA Division I career list. Fair has 3,302 points. She passed Griner with a tough driving layup in the second quarter.

Fair, who was 3-for-12 shooting through three quarters, got it going in the fourth quarter. She made a pair of free throws, then added a jumper and a layup to get the Orange within 49-47 near the 7-minute mark. Three minutes later, she assisted on a jumper by Sophie Burrows and Syracuse was within two again at 51-49.

Alyssa Latham scored a second-chance bucket to give Syracuse the lead at 52-51 with about 3 minutes remaining. After Liatu King scored in the paint to put Pitt back ahead, Fair drilled a 3-pointer to put Syracuse up by two. A minute later she hit a short jumper for a 57-53 lead with 1:38 on the clock.

Pittsburgh was in the midst of a 1-for-13 shooting slump and chose to foul several times in the final minute. Fair made four consecutive free throws and Woolley added two more to wrap up the win.

Woolley scored 14 points and Burrows added 11 for Syracuse (23-5, 13-4 ACC).

King scored 29 points and collected 10 rebounds for Pittsburgh (8-21, 2-14). Bella Perkins added 11 points off the bench and Rapuluchi Ayodele had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Syracuse led 15-14 after one quarter then Pittsburgh moved out in front on a 2-point jumper and a 3-pointer by Perkins. The Panthers' lead reached 22-15 before Woolley scored eight consecutive points to give Syracuse its last lead until 3 minutes remained in the game. Perkins hit two 3-pointers later in the quarter and the Panthers went on to lead 30-25 at halftime.

Syracuse faced a deficit of at least seven points in every quarter but never trailed by more than eight points.

Syracuse wraps up the regular season at No. 6 NC State on Thursday. Pitt plays at Miami on Thursday and wraps it up at home against Boston College on Sunday.