By MIKE ROSE
Dyaisha Fair (Edison Tech) kicked off her final NCAA Tournament run in style. She closed the game on a personal 13-3 run as the No. 6 seeded Syracuse Orange knocked off the No. 11 seed Arizona Wildcats, 74-69 in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“I think we’ve been there before,” Fair said. “When you have experience, you know what it takes to win, you know what it takes to have success. I think the scorer that I am and the confidence that I have and the confidence that my teammates and my coaching staff instill in me all throughout the year is just keep going. It’s just keep going and trust your work.”
Fair’s run helped rally the Orange back from a 66-61 deficit with 3:16 to play. The run came after she returned from an injury earlier in the game.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t anything serious,” Fair said. “At first, when stuff like that happens, you think the worst, and at first it was just overwhelming. But I knew once I felt good, or I knew I was able to go, in the back of my mind, my team is still counting on me. If I can go, I’ll go. I’m counting on me, and so was everyone watching and my family. So that was the mindset to get back out there.”
Fair returned to the game to massive ovation from the Syracuse contingency who made the trip.
“To hear that, it was warming, I think, with it being my last few games with this team,” Fair said. “It was a warming thing. In my mind, it’s time to go. It’s go time. So get back out there and get it done.”
Fair finished the day with 32 points in total on 11-for-22 from the field.
“Oh, we love it (laughter),” Syracuse guard Kennedi Perkins said. “We know when she’s cooking, give her the ball. We’ll rebound. We’ll get her open if we need to. But when Dyaisha gets going, who can stop her?”
Fair began her collegiate career at the University of Buffalo where she earned MAC Freshman of the year. She averaged 22 points per game as a freshman. She followed by earning All-MAC First Team and All-Defensive team honors in her sophomore season. She transferred to Syracuse ahead of the 2022-23 campaign where she finished First Team All-ACC and All-ACC Defensive Team.
After scoring 32 Saturday, Fair has amassed 3,383 career points. That mark is the fifth most all-time in the history of college women’s basketball. Fair will have a chance at more history in the second round as she is now 11 points shy of fourth place (Jackie Stiles, 3,092) and 20 shy of third place (Kelsey Mitchell, 3,402).
The Orange will move on to the second round for the first time since 2021. They’ll face the No. 3 seed Connecticut Huskies on Monday at 1 p.m seeking their second ever Sweet 16 appearance and first since 2016 when they finished as the national runners up.
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