COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Brianna Butler scored 17 points, including the go-ahead basket with 58.7 seconds left, to lift eighth-seeded Syracuse to a 72-69 victory over Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

The Huskers had a chance to tie it once more with 15.8 seconds left, but Emily Cady missed the second of two foul shots. Alexis Peterson followed with two free throws to extend the Syracuse lead to 70-67 and the Huskers turned the ball on their next possession with getting a shot off.

Peterson capped the victory for the Orange (22-9) with two more foul shots. She finished with a game-high 24 points.

Syracuse will take on top-seeded South Carolina, which earlier defeated Savannah State 81-48 to advance.

The Orange gave highly ranked South Carolina one of its toughest contests this season, losing 67-63 last November.

Emily Cady led Nebraska with 18 points.

Columbia, S.C. – Nebraska Coach Connie Yori and the Huskers met the media and held their first practice at Colonial Life Arena on Thursday in preparation for Friday’s game against Syracuse in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The ninth-seeded Huskers (21-10, 10-8 Big Ten) will battle eighth-seeded Syracuse (21-9, 11-5 ACC) in Friday’s first round at approximately 6:30 p.m. (central).

The game between Nebraska and the Orange will follow Friday’s first game between No. 1 seed South Carolina (30-2, 15-1 SEC) and 16th-seeded Savannah State (21-10, 13-3 MEAC), which will tip at 4:05 p.m. (central). Both games will be televised live by ESPN2.

Yori addressed members of the media in the official NCAA Press Conference at Colonial Life Arena on Thursday afternoon, prior to Nebraska’s practice. She was joined by Nebraska senior forwards Emily Cady and Hailie Sample, who both will be playing in the 132nd games of their Husker careers. For Cady, it will be her school-record-tying 132nd consecutive start.

Cady said the Huskers were proud to be competing in their fourth straight NCAA Tournament.

“We take a lot of pride in it. We’ve worked really hard to get to the point that we’re at,” Cady said. “It’s humbling and we’re really, really proud of it.”

Sample said the Big Red, who advanced to the 2013 NCAA Sweet 16 and 2014 NCAA Second Round, were thrilled with another postseason opportunity.

“I think we’re just excited in general,” Sample said. “We’re thinking about the game at hand.”

Yori said the Huskers were thrilled to be in South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m just glad we’re here. I’m just happy to be in the NCAA Tournament, and I think we all feel that way,” Yori said. “The first game is going to be incredibly difficult because I think the two teams are very evenly matched.”

The Nebraska women’s basketball team made history by earning its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and will take on Syracuse Friday in the first round at Columbia, S.C.

Tip-off between the ninth-seeded Cornhuskers (21-10, 10-8 Big Ten) and eighth-seeded Orange (21-9, 11-5 ACC) at Colonial Life Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. (central) with live national television coverage provided by ESPN2. Husker fans may not be able to see the game in its entirety on ESPN2 because of tournament whip-around coverage, so fans can seek more complete coverage on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app. Pam Ward and Carolyn Peck will be on the television call for ESPN2.

Live radio coverage from the Husker Sports Network is available with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on stations across the network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln, 93.3 FM in Omaha and 880 AM KRVN in Lexington. Free live audio is available on Huskers.com.

Nebraska seniors Emily Cady, Brandi Jeffery, Tear’a Laudermill and Hailie Sample made history by advancing to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament. The seniors, who all came to Nebraska as true freshmen in the same recruiting class prior to NU’s first season in the Big Ten in 2011-12, are also the first class in Husker history to produce four straight 20-win campaigns.

They will try to add to a school-record 96 career victories – an average of 24 wins per season. Prior to their arrival in Lincoln, only one Nebraska team had ever won more than 23 games – the 2010 Huskers who went 32-2 to claim an NCAA No. 1 seed.

Cady, a four-year starter from Seward, Neb., is set to tie a Nebraska record with her 132nd consecutive start on Friday. The 6-2 forward also needs just five rebounds to catch 2014 first-team All-American Jordan Hooper at No. 2 on the Nebraska career rebounds list (1,110). Cady ranks sixth among active NCAA rebounders with 1,105 in her career. She has added 1,441 points and 303 assists, while ranking among the top five players in school history with 114 career blocks.

Sample, a 6-1 forward from Flower Mound, Texas, has started 131 games alongside Cady, while Laudermill (Moreno Valley, Calif.) has made 61 straight starts. Jeffery (Vacherie, La.) has added 38 career starts to give the seniors more than 300 combined career starts.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (21-10, 10-8 Big Ten)
3 – Hailie Sample – 6-1 – Sr. – F – 7.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg
23 – Emily Cady – 6-2 – Sr. – F – 12.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg
1 – Tear’a Laudermill – 5-9 – Sr. – G – 13.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg
5 – Natalie Romeo – 5-7 – Fr. – G – 8.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg
13 – Brandi Jeffery – 5-7 – Sr. – G – 7.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg
Off the Bench
33 – Rachel Theriot (OUT) – 6-0 – Jr. – G – 16.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg
22 – Allie Havers – 6-5 – So. – C – 4.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg
31 – Anya Kalenta – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 3.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg
30 – Chandler Smith – 6-0 – Fr. – G – 1.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg
34 – Jasmine Cincore – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 1.3 ppg, 0.2 rpg
12 – Emily Wood – 5-5 – Fr. – G – 0.2 ppg, 0.5 rpg
11 – Esther Ramacieri – 5-8 – So. – G – 0.1 ppg, 0.5 rpg
50 – Darrien Washington – 6-2 – Fr. – F – Redshirting
Head Coach: Connie Yori (Creighton, 1986)
13th Season at NU (262-152); 25th Season Overall (457-292)

Syracuse Orange (21-9, 11-5 ACC)
1 – Alexis Peterson – 5-7 – So. – G – 15.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg
11 – Cornelia Fondren – 5-8 – Jr. – G – 7.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg
13 – Brianna Butler – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 13.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg
10 – Isabella Slim – 6-0 – So. – F – 1.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg
50 – Briana Day – 6-4 – So. – C – 9.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg
Off the Bench
0 – Diamond Henderson (OUT) – 5-6 – Sr. – G – 10.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg
22 – Taylor Ford – 6-0 – Jr. – F – 6.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg
4 – Maggie Morrison – 5-8 – Sr. – G – 2.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg
55 – Bria Day – 6-4 – So. – F – 1.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg
44 – Amber Witherspoon – 6-4 – Fr. – C – 0.5 ppg, 1.1 rpg
21 – Danielle Minott – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 1.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg
Head Coach: Quentin Hillsman (St. Mary’s, Md., 1993)
8th Season at Syracuse (167-99); 8th Season Overall (167-99)

Lincoln – Nebraska’s four seniors became the first class in school history to lead the Huskers to four straight NCAA tournaments, when they were included in the field of 64 for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Monday, March 16.

The NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Committee announced its bracket during the NCAA Selection Show televised live by ESPN. The Huskers, who gathered with athletic staff and supporters at the Hendricks Training Complex, celebrated after hearing that they were traveling to Columbia, S.C., as a No. 9 seed for the NCAA first and second rounds.

The Huskers (21-10, 10-8 Big Ten) will begin tournament play against Syracuse (21-9, 11-5 ACC) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. (CT). It will be the first meeting in history between the Big Red and the Orange. Nebraska’s game will be televised nationally by ESPN2, with first-round whip-around coverage. Additional coverage will be available on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN app.

First-round play at South Carolina will begin with the No. 1-seeded Gamecocks taking on 16-seed Savannah State on Friday at 4 p.m. (CT).

If the Huskers advance past the first round, they will play on Sunday, March 22 in Columbia, S.C., at a time to be announced later. The Columbia sub-regional is paired with the Chapel Hill, N.C., sub-regional in the Greensboro (N.C.) Regional, set for March 27-29. The NCAA Women’s Final Four will be held in Tampa Bay, Fla., April 5-7.

Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said the Husker seniors showed their leadership, character and resiliency by getting the Big Red back in the Big Dance despite a mid-season injury to junior All-America point guard Rachel Theriot.

“I am really proud of this team for showing the ability to overcome adversity throughout the season,” Yori said. “The seniors set the tone and found a way to get it done. We had a lot of young players go through injuries early in the season, and then we were hit hard by Rachel’s season-ending injury. They are a mentally tough group of young women, and they overcame all those challenges to go 4-3 against some really good competition down the stretch. They definitely earned the right to play in the NCAA Tournament again.”

Yori, who is in her 13th season at the helm of the Huskers, will be leading her seventh Nebraska team to the NCAA Tournament, with all seven appearances coming in the past nine seasons.

Nebraska seniors Emily Cady, Brandi Jeffery, Tear’a Laudermill and Hailie Sample, led the Huskers to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament after becoming the first class in school history to record four straight 20-win seasons. Nebraska is one of just 21 NCAA Division I teams around the nation to earn four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Twelve schools that had advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2012, 2013 and 2014 had streaks snapped in 2015.

The Huskers, who are making their 13th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, will be searching for their ninth NCAA Tournament victory when they take on Syracuse, which tied for fourth with Duke in the final ACC regular-season standings.

The seniors have notched three of those victories, defeating Chattanooga in the first round in College Station, Texas, in 2013, before beating Texas A&M on the Aggies’ homecourt. The win over A&M sent the Huskers to their second NCAA Sweet 16.

Last year, Nebraska earned a No. 4 seed before defeating Fresno State in the opening round in Los Angeles. The senior class is 3-3 in its three previous NCAA appearances.

Nebraska was one of seven Big Ten Conference teams to earn bids to the Big Dance, joining No. 1 seed Maryland, No. 3 seed Iowa, No. 5 seed Ohio State, No. 7 seed Northwestern, No. 8 seed Rutgers and No. 8 seed Minnesota.

The Big Ten Conference has not lost an NCAA Tournament first-round game the past two years, going 6-0 in 2013 and 5-0 in 2014. Maryland, which was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference the past two seasons, also won both of its first-round NCAA Tournament games the past two years.

Nebraska’s senior class has established school records for total wins (96) and winning percentage (.733, 96-35) over the past four seasons. The group needs one more NCAA Tournament win to match the previous school best of four NCAA victories set by the 2013 class of Lindsey Moore and Meghin Williams. The 2013 class advanced to NCAA Sweet Sixteens in 2010 and 2013.

While the seniors will try to add an impressive legacy at Nebraska, several freshmen have stepped up to play major roles in Theriot’s absence this season.

Natalie Romeo has played the largest role of the group with 11 starts in Big Ten play, including nine in place of Theriot. Romeo averaged a team-leading 20 points in Nebraska’s two Big Ten Tournament games, March 5-6. She also connected on 11 three-pointers in the two games, tying the Nebraska career record for three-pointers in conference tournament action. Her seven threes against Illinois tied a school record.

Freshmen Chandler Smith, Jasmine Cincore and Emily Wood also have seen increased playing time down the stretch for the Huskers, while sophomores Allie Havers and Esther Ramacieri and junior Anya Kalenta continue to provide valuable contributions.

Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament
First appearance: 1988
Total appearances: 13
(1988, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
NCAA Tournament Record: 8-12
NCAA First-Round Record: 6-6
NCAA Sweet Sixteens: 2 (2010, 2013)
Highest Seed: No. 1 (2010)