Nicole Michael read the eyes of Dartmouth’s Meghan McFee perfectly. Jumping in front of the telegraphed pass, Michael stole the ball and was home free. Nothing stood between her and the 75 feet to an easy layup.

But it wasn’t that simple.

As Michael sprinted down the court, she lost her grip on the ball, dribbling it off her leg and giving the ball right back to the Big Green.

Michael’s turnover was just one in a game full of rather sloppy play from the Syracuse women’s basketball team on the offensive end of the floor. Despite having a comfortable lead for most of the game and breezing to a 56-42 victory over Dartmouth, SU turned the ball over a staggering 26 times.

After the game, head coach Quentin Hillsman said he was happy with his team’s overall offensive effort, which included dominating the inside game en route to 38 points in the paint.

But he acknowledged the problem of his team’s turnovers and general carelessness with the basketball.

‘The turnovers were a little disturbing,’ Hillsman said. ‘But I think a lot of that was just being off.’

Before Sunday’s game, the Orange was averaging 16.8 turnovers per game, leading to a turnover margin of plus-2.8. But SU was minus-four in that department Sunday.

In an unusual week of practice, Hillsman gave his players more time off, as a few players felt under the weather during the week. Because of the light week of practice, SU didn’t get to scrimmage once this week.

‘I think we were just rusty from not playing five-on-five in practice,’ Michael, a senior forward, said. ‘We pretty much had a week off from five-on-five.’

Senior forward Juanita Ward agreed. When she was asked if Hillsman tried to address the team’s 12 first half turnovers, she said the light week of practice was to blame, calling it uncharacteristic for a team that normally expends more energy in practice.

‘There wasn’t much that he could really show us in the (locker room),’ Ward said.

The Orange also had issues passing the ball, leading to some of its inconsistent play.

SU started off the game with assists on nine of its first ten field goals, including a couple of nifty passes from Tyler Ash. But freshmen Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Kayla Alexander made some erratic passes throughout the half, something that Hillsman shrugged off as part of the learning process.

‘I thought that when you have Carmen Tyson-Thomas trying to make plays, you can live with that,’ Hillsman said. ‘She’s a freshman.’

Hillsman thought the same for Alexander, who set a season-high with four turnovers. Instead of looking for her shot, she tried to spread the ball around.

But Hillsman doesn’t want his budding star to be fair, instead looking for her to take a more aggressive role in the offense.

‘Kayla Alexander was starting to get nice, wanting to share the ball and pass the ball,’ Hillsman said. ‘But I don’t really want her to lead the country in assists. I want her to lead the country in shot attempts.’

Michael took Hillsman’s lesson to heart.

After the Orange had turned the ball over four times in the first three minutes of the second half, Michael dribbled down the court and decided to cut out the middleman. She pulled up to the top right side of the key and sank a 3-pointer.

No passes necessary.

‘Usually we’re used to doing more (five-on-five) and used to passing the ball more,’ Michael said. ‘I just think we were rusty.’

With Big East play looming on the schedule – the Orange plays its first conference game in less than three weeks against Georgetown – Hillsman knows a performance as shoddy as Sunday’s, won’t fly.

But with more time than ever to practice – SU plays only three games in the next three weeks – and with players returning to full strength, he’s confident his team can become more sound with the ball.s

‘There were a few things where I thought we just were a little careless,’ Hillsman said. ‘So we have to a do a good job next week of getting in the gym, playing some five-on-five, getting up and down the floor and getting back into game mode.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on December 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm