GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Amaya Finklea-Guity led a balanced attack with 15 points and eighth-seeded Syracuse pulled away from ninth-seeded Virginia in the fourth quarter for a 67-50 win on Thursday in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Tournament.
Gabrielle Cooper and Emily Engstler added 13 points apiece, Kiara Lewis had 11 and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi 10 off the bench for the Orange (16-15), who led 53-47 after three quarters.
Syracuse faces top-seeded and fourth-ranked Louisville in the second quarterfinal on Friday.
Djaldi-Tabdi opened the fourth with a pair of free throws and Digna Strautmane hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-47, the first double-figure lead of the game.
Jocelyn Willoughby hit a 3-pointer for the Cavaliers, who won the regular-season meeting 57-41, with 7:30 to play but Virginia never scored again. Syracuse closed the game with nine points and neither team scored in the final 3:17.
Virginia missed its final 15 shots and finished with 26 turnovers.
Willoughby had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Virginia (13-17), and Lisa Jablonowski added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Orange avenged a 16-point loss to the Cavaliers during the regular season.
OF NOTE:
* Syracuse improves to 13-2 when leading at halftime.
* The Orange tied a season-high with 10 blocks (also versus Pitt Feb. 16)
* Syracuse’s 10 blocks set a school-record for any conference tournament games … The seven blocks by forward Digna Strautmane also set a new school mark.
* The teams combined for 14 blocks which ties for fourth most block shots in a tournament game with Maryland versus Wake Forest (1980) and Georgia Tech vs UNC (2015)
* Syracuse eliminated UVA for the second straight tournament. The Orange defeated UVA 67-57 in 2019 during the second round.
* UVA’s Jocelyn Willoughby recorded her 10th double-double of the season and 24th of her career.