THE FLATS – Four Yellow Jackets finished in double-figures as Georgia Tech women’s basketball secured a 69-57 victory over Syracuse Thursday night in McCamish Pavilion. Cameron Swartz led the Jackets with 17 points and Tonie Morgan recorded her second double-double behind 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Neither team held larger than a six-point lead in the first half as Georgia Tech (10-9, 1-7 ACC) and Syracuse (13-6, 4-4 ACC) exchanged the advantage three times and worked through three ties. Trailing 28-22 with 3:21 left to play in the half, Morgan sparked a 9-2 Yellow Jacket run to close the opening 20 minutes and give Georgia Tech a 31-30 lead at halftime.
Syracuse came out of intermission regaining a six-point lead, 40-34, by the 5:16 mark, but Tech had an answer. Fueled by seven points from Morgan and six from Kayla Blackshear, the Jackets put together a 17-7 run over the next six minutes to take a 51-47 lead at 9:15 in the fourth. The Orange knotted the score for the ninth time before Swartz drew a foul on a three-point attempt and converted all three at the charity stripe to spark an 18-6 run over the final six minutes and 23 seconds. Tech saw offensive contributions from four different Jackets in the stretch, while holding Syracuse to a mere three field goals in the final minutes to secure the win.
Tech dominated the second half, winning the final 20 minutes, 38-27, shooting 48.1 percent (13-27) from the field and holding Syracuse to 25.0 percent (9-36). Bianca Jackson, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored 11 points in the second to help lift the Jackets to victory.