Taylor, No. 13 Duke women turn back Syracuse 62-50

Seattle Sports

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Celeste Taylor scored 15 points, turning consecutive turnovers into late baskets and No. 13 Duke turned back Syracuse 62-50 on Sunday.

The Blue Devils were up by six when Reigan Richardson stole the ball and fed Taylor for a layup as the clock dipped under two minutes. Taylor knocked the ball loose on the ensuing inbounds and turned that into a jumper for a 56-46 lead with 90 seconds to go.

The Orange then missed a pair of shots before Taylor scored on a fast break with just under a minute to play.

The final minute was a free-throw parade.

Shayeann Day-Wilson led the way with 16 points as the Blue Devils (17-2, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back from having their 11-game winning streak snapped with a 61-56 loss at rival North Carolina on Thursday. Elizabeth Balogun scored 10.

Alaina Rice scored 15 points to lead Syracuse (13-7, 4-5) and Dyaisha Fair had 10.

Duke shot 44% but made seven of its last eight shots while Syracuse finished at 35%. The teams combined for 33 fouls and 37 turnovers.

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Syracuse scored the first seven points of the game and kept the lead until the Blue Devils closed the second quarter with a 14-2 run to lead 39-24 at the half. Taylor scored seven points in the run and Day Wilson five, both knocking down a 3.

After Rice hit a 3-pointer at the 7:22 mark to put the Orange ahead 22-15, she missed two shots before making a layup at five minutes to break a tie. After that, Syracuse didn’t hit a field goal until more than four minutes into the third quarter, missing eight straight.

Duke opened the second half with a 10-2 run to lead 39-26 but the Orange responded with seven straight and trailed by six going into the fourth quarter.

Duke is home against No. 12 Virginia Tech on Thursday when Virginia visits Syracuse.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25