Digna Strautmane ripped the ball left to right across her body and drove towards the free throw line. Gabrielle Cooper spotted up on the right wing, wide open. Strautmane looked left, away from Cooper, but her pass went to the right wing, into Cooper’s hands and soon through the basket.

Strautmane’s no-look assist became just one of her many contributions across the stat sheet on Thursday.

Syracuse (16-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) benefitted from Strautmane’s all-around performance in its 86-51 win over Clemson (11-10, 1-7). The freshman forward from Latvia scored 16 points and added nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals. It was her sixth four-block game of the season and a season-high in steals. Strautmane also made two 3s for the second-straight game.

“I just know that I have to shoot and I just have to be confident to make them,” Strautmane said. “It definitely is going to be a part of my game.”

At the end of SU’s practice on Tuesday, the guards had all left the floor. But assistant coach Adeniyi Amadou, who works with the bigs, was still drilling his position group. The forwards and centers, including Strautmane, were working on ripping the ball through and driving to the middle of the floor toward the basket. On Thursday, that post-practice work showed.

“Adeniyi really does a good job,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “Adeniyi’s working them really, really hard trying to get (Strautmane and Amaya Finklea-Guity) to understand college basketball.”

Strautmane assisted on two Cooper 3s in the first quarter. Her first dime wasn’t as flashy as the second, no-look assist, but her feet traced almost the same path down the middle of the key and paint. She had just the two assists on the game, but both showed a dynamic wrinkle she’d lacked at times in ACC play.

Talent-wise, Strautmane didn’t have to make a big leap from international play, Hillsman said, but the speed of the college game had caused her some trouble. For much of conference play, Strautmane had planted herself on the perimeter and seemed flustered when she’d catch it with a defender near. Often, she’d fling up a contested 3 or just pass the ball to a teammate instead of attacking.

Thursday night in the Carrier Dome, though, Strautmane attacked. On a couple of occasions, the 6-foot-2 forward planted herself in the lane and went to work. She scored on a second-quarter bucket that featured a shimmy of her right shoulder, as if she would spin to her left hand, before actually spinning over her left shoulder and scoring with her right hand.

“Just slow down and play the game, she’s doing a really good job of doing that,” Hillsman said.

Strautmane showed off the touch with her right hand again in the third quarter when she caught in the low post and didn’t hesitate before going up with a right-handed hook shot that fell through.

By the fourth quarter, the game was well in hand. Syracuse was hovering around a 30-point lead. But Strautmane wasn’t done. Her best move of the night came inside the paint as a counter to the moves she’d already scored on.

Off a catch in the lane, Strautmane turned to her left, setting up a right-handed shot, but this time, she faked. The Clemson defender bit and Strautmane stepped through towards the left block with her right foot. She scooped the ball with her left hand off the glass and through the rim.

“(Digna and I) spoke about a week and a half ago about just being aggressive and attacking the basket,” Hillsman said.

Strautmane spent the last 3:24 of the game on the bench. She didn’t get much credit for her last contribution but it summed up the game she played.

Strautmane was knocked to the ground as Clemson’s Kobi Thornton grabbed the ball near the low block. Syracuse led by 33. But Strautmane eyed the basketball, as she had all night, and reached up from the ground, swiping the ball from the hands of Clemson’s game-high scorer. She flipped the ball to point guard Tiana Mangakahia, who got credit for the steal. But on a night where Strautmane did a little bit of everything, she made sure to make one more play before she subbed out for the final time, even while lying on the ground.

“That’s what it takes to be a freshman,” Hillsman said, “to play at this level, just your intensity and effort.”

Published on January 25, 2018 at 10:26 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3