Syracuse women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman smiles when asked about his team’s first regular season opponent. While other major Division I teams will open their season with a weak mid-major opponent, Hillsman kicks off his college head coaching career in Happy Valley against Penn State, a team predicted to finish fourth in the powerful Big Ten conference.

The Orange plays the Lady Lions on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game comes three days after Hillsman signed six players in one of the best recruiting classes in school history.

Hillsman acknowledged his team faces a test this weekend. Still, he showed enthusiasm for starting the season against a team with a strong women’s basketball tradition.

‘We are really excited for the opportunity to go play a top-40 team on their home floor,’ Hillsman said. ‘To have a chance to get a win out there, it’s a great opportunity for our program.’

He stated the coaching staff has been preparing for the Lady Lions for the last week and a half.

One member of the scouting report is Lady Lions’ center Amanda Brown. The 6-foot-4 Montreal native was named to the Preseason All-Big 10 team after finishing last season leading PSU in points, rebounds and blocks.

Brown could create match-up problems for SU’s center, Vaida Sipaviciute. The junior led the Orange in scoring last season but struggled in the exhibition games, shooting a combined 12-for-32 in the two contests.

Sipaviciute said she does not plan to adjust her game when she faces Brown. Despite her struggles, Sipaviciute also said she feels more confident coming into this season than she did last year-a view she attributes to Hillsman.

‘It’s so much better (under Hillsman),’ Sipaviciute said. ‘It’s so much faster. It’s so much fun now. I realize we can all really have fun on the court. It didn’t happen that much last year.’

She has enjoyed how this year’s team runs more, presses and uses a zone defense. This season she also has two other new faces on the team who will help take the pressure off of her during the season.

Freshman Nicole Michael and junior college transfer Fantasia Goodwin displayed their talent throughout the exhibition period-especially Goodwin, who scored 21 points in both preseason games.

‘It does a lot for my confidence for playing against Penn State, who’s going to be a very good team,’ Goodwin said. ‘I just want to be a team player and score some points.’

Goodwin said she’s not nervous about finally playing her first regular season college game, but she did admit to having some pre-game jitters.

Michael scored 21 points of her own in the team’s second exhibition game against Athletes in Action. She injured her ankle during the first half of the game but did return and continued to contribute to the offense. She did appear to be limping during sprints at the beginning of Thursday’s practice, and when the team practiced defensive drills, Michael remained on an exercise bike.

Hillsman expected Goodwin and Michael to perform well, but the extent of their output surprised him. Moreover, he learned from the exhibition games his whole team would be potent on offense.

Hillsman still displayed worry for his defense, but if his offense continues to gel he believes SU will manage well against the Lady Lions.

‘The main thing that I saw (in the exhibition games) is that we can definitely score the ball,’ Hillsman said. ‘We can definitely put the ball in the basket. We have some players that can definitely play and make plays off the bounce. That’s very encouraging.’

Published on November 8, 2006 at 12:00 pm