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From disaster to dagger: Syracuse survives Cal in triple OT war

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse’s night felt like three different games piled into one. The Orange built a 20-point second-half lead, watched it completely disappear, and still walked out of the JMA Wireless Dome with a 90–87 triple-overtime thriller over Cal thanks to Dominique Darius’ cold-blooded game-winner.

A Syracuse women’s basketball player, Dominique Darius, dribbles at the top of the arc while being guarded by a Cal defender during the triple-overtime game at the JMA Wireless Dome. Photo by Gaby Waksberg. — Syracuse guard Dominique Darius sizes up her defender at the top of the key during Thursday’s triple-overtime win over Cal. © Gaby Waksberg

Syracuse came out flying, chasing down loose balls and dominating the offensive glass. 15 offensive rebounds in the first half kept possessions alive and let the Orange settle into an early rhythm. Laila Phelia set the tone with aggressive drives, while Sophie Burrows and Uche Izoje controlled the lane and helped Syracuse take a double-digit lead into halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, everything pointed toward a comfortable win — until it didn’t. Syracuse suddenly went ice cold around the rim, and Cal took advantage. The Golden Bears chipped away at the margin, then blitzed the Orange with a 25–9 fourth quarter that flipped the game on its head. Missed layups piled up, Cal started hitting, and a 20-point cushion evaporated within minutes.

Despite the meltdown, Syracuse collected itself. After Phelia briefly exited in visible pain, Burrows answered by scoring six straight points to lift the Orange emotionally and offensively. “I didn’t have much left,” Burrows said after playing nearly 50 minutes. “But we wanted to win so bad that I didn’t care how tired I was.”

Leila Filia, wearing a white Syracuse uniform, is helped off the court by two staff members after sustaining an injury during the game against Cal at the JMA Wireless Dome. — Syracuse guard Leila Phelia is helped off the floor after suffering an injury in the second half of Thursday’s triple-overtime win against Cal. ©Gaby Waksberg

From there, both teams traded punches through two exhausting overtimes, big rebounds, missed chances, and enough tense possessions to last a month.

Then came the decisive moment. With the clock running down in the third overtime, Darius was asked to run “horns down,” took the ball at the top, and buried a contested three with three seconds left. “I knew I was going to get a shot off,” she said. “I trusted it.”

Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack called the win a “gut check,” explaining how proud she was of her team recovering from the blown lead. Syracuse ended the night with 29 offensive rebounds and four players in double figures, grinding out its first-ever win over Cal in a triple-OT game that felt like a turning point in the season.