PISCATAWAY. N.J. (AP) -- The biggest upset in the Big East Conference women's tournament since 1996 might be enough to get Syracuse a berth in the NCAA tournament.

At least the Orangemen think so.

Leaf Newman scored 11 points in a 24-4 spurt and Syracuse stunned Notre Dame (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP) 84-79 on Sunday, snapping a 12-game losing streak against the defending national champions.

"I think we had it in the backs of our minds that if we went out and beat Notre Dame in the second round that our chances would be pretty good," point guard Julie McBride said after Syracuse (18-11) inched closer to its first NCAA berth since 1988.

Jaime James had 23 points, Newman added 19 and the No. 7-seeded Orangemen got 29 points off 19 turnovers.

McBride added 18 points, including five free throws in the final 45.5 seconds, to help Syracuse reach the semifinals Monday night against Boston College (No. 17, No. 18), which beat Rutgers 64-59.

"Our goal was to win a first-round game because it had been a while since we had done that," Syracuse coach Marianna Freeman said. "Now, we're taking it one step at a time, trying to make it impossible for the (NCAA selection) committee to ignore us."

The No. 2 seeded Irish (19-10) are still likely to get an NCAA tournament berth despite losing two in a row after a nine-game winning streak.

"I don't think we overlooked them," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "I think we're a real young team with no leadership. I think we were looking for someone to step up and lead the way."

Alicia Ratay, a conference first-team selection, finally did that with Notre Dame trailing 76-60 with 3:52 to play.

Ratay scored 17 of her 29 points down the stretch. Her seventh 3-pointer pulled the Irish to 81-79 with 18.3 seconds to play.

James hit two free throws to push the lead to four with 16.6 seconds left and Notre Dame's final chance evaporated when Ratay threw an airball with 6 seconds to go.

"We didn't take care of the ball," Ratay said. "If you're not going to take care of the ball, you're not going to win games."

The upset was the biggest in the conference tournament since No. 13-seeded Pittsburgh beat No. 5 seed Villanova, and No. 7 seed Seton Hall beat No. 2 seed Providence in quarterfinal games.

Syracuse, which lost center Chineze Nwagbo to a knee injury Saturday night, took control by combining a 9-1 run at the end of the first half with a 15-3 push at the start of the second.

Newman hit a 3-pointer and a basket at the end of the first half and added three more baskets at the start of the second. James started the second-half burst with consecutive 3-pointers.

Tara Trammell, who was filling in for Nwagbo, had seven of her nine points in the spurt. During the regular season, she had nine points in conference play.