No. 8 Notre Dame 71, Syracuse 48

No. 8 Notre Dame 71, Syracuse 48

Published Feb. 2, 2011 3:24 a.m. ET

Becca Bruszewski joined some quality company at Notre Dame.

Bruszewski became the 27th player in school history to score 1,000 points and Devereaux Peters had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish beat Syracuse 71-48 on Tuesday night.

''What a great day it was for Becca,'' Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. ''It was great that she was able to get it right away.''

Bruszewski, a senior, said: ''I'm in the record books here at Notre Dame. I'm always going to be remembered.''

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Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman was frustrated the entire night with his team's performance, but recognized that any road game in the Big East is a challenge.

''Notre Dame is a great basketball team,'' Hillsman said. ''We knew coming in here it would be a tough game.''

The Irish (19-4, 8-1) dominated in the paint, outscoring the Orange (16-5, 4-4) 36-16 inside. Notre Dame also outrebounded Syracuse 44-34.

''That's something that normally doesn't happen to us,'' Hillsman said.

''Our posts are really playing well,'' McGraw said. ''I'm just really thrilled with the way they're playing. They're doing everything.''

Syracuse struggled offensively all night, shooting 25.5 percent from the field and turning the ball over 24 times. From behind the arc, the Orange were 2 for 14.

''We didn't play our best,'' Hillsman said. ''In this conference, when you don't play your best, you're not going to win.''

Neither the Syracuse post players nor guards could get going in the paint, as active hands and sturdy positioning kept the Orange from getting anything easy.

''They just didn't give ground,'' Hillsman said. ''You have to give them a lot of credit for being very tough inside.''

Elashier Hall, Syracuse's leading scorer on the season, was held scoreless on 0 for 3 from the field.

''We did a great job on her,'' McGraw said. ''A lot of people guarded her, and I thought they all did a great job on her.''

Although the Irish dominated on the defensive side of the ball, Notre Dame was far from fluid on offense.

''I wasn't happy at all with the offense because it didn't flow,'' McGraw said. ''But, overall, we're winning with defense and that's what we want to do.''

Center Kayla Alexander led the Orange with 19 points and five rebounds.

Syracuse guard Iasia Hemingway was hit with a technical foul with 10:31 to play when she caught Natalie Achonwa with an elbow after recovering a rebound.

Achonwa had 13 points off the bench for the Irish.

Skylar Diggins scored eight points for the Irish was held to eight points, but she did pull in seven rebounds and get five steals.

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