Nicole Michael already had secured a few Werther’s Originals, her favorite candy, by halftime Sunday. With 26 points and 12 rebounds at the break, Michael had won a longstanding bet with Syracuse women’s basketball assistant coach Rick Moody.

‘Coach Moody makes sure I rebound,’ Michael said. ‘We have a bet if I get over 10 rebounds, he gives me candy. So I am just going to keep rebounding and crashing the boards, because I like candy.’

But, candy already intact, she didn’t stop at halftime. Michael, a senior forward, exploded for a career-high 36 points and matched a career-best 17 rebounds, leading the Orange to an 87-74 win over Binghamton Sunday in front of 804 fans at the Carrier Dome. Her previous career highs in points and rebounds had come when she was a freshman in the 2006-07 season.

Syracuse (4-0) is off to its best start since the 2004-05 season, when it also won its first four contests.

Michael demolished her career-high of three 3-pointers made in a single game. She went off from beyond the arc, hitting 8-of-12 threes.

‘I’m always comfortable shooting threes because I’m confident,’ Michael said. ‘I worked on that all summer. I’m going to take it every time if I’m open.’

Michael was part of an SU offensive outburst that came just three days removed from its worst offensive showing of the season, when it shot only 30 percent from the field. With Michael leading the way, the Orange shot 51.5 percent from the field, including 45 percent on 3-pointers.

‘Just a phenomenal game,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said of Michael’s performance. ‘It was one of the best performances I’ve seen in women’s basketball. She made some when they were flying at her and when she was uncontested, and overall, she just played a monster, monster game.’

Michael got the Orange off to a quick start. She scored 10 of her team’s first 16 points, including two 3-pointers in the first five minutes of action, getting the team out to a 16-7 early advantage.

By halftime, she had secured the 24th double-double in her SU career. At the break, she had 26 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.

‘Coach (Hillsman) made it clear that it’s important for me to score,’ Michael said. ‘I’m a big factor on the team, so I’m going to keep playing hard and score.’

After the early lead, Binghamton stormed back to tie the game with three quick 3-pointers. The Bearcats hit four of their first nine 3s in the first half.

But after a 9-0 run of its own, the Orange held a comfortable lead for most of the first half. SU closed out the half on a 15-6 run, with junior guard Erica Morrow scoring three of her 14 points to push the lead to 51-39.

After the break, SU stormed out of the gate, starting the second half with a 12-5 run to make it 63-44 under three minutes into the half. The Bearcats never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

After a frustrating game last time out against Alabama State, Hillsman was pleased to see his team respond against Binghamton – with, of course, a little encouragement.

‘Coach was very upset after the Alabama State game,’ Michael said. ‘He killed us – I’m not going to lie – he killed us.’

But, despite general soreness off what she guessed was about 20 miles of running each of the last two practices, freshman guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas said the last game forced the team to respond.

‘Practice was kind of hard,’ Tyson-Thomas said. ‘A lot of running. But it’s something I’m going to get used to.’

And off the two days of hard practice, SU responded in a big way, with Michael the game’s standout performer.

Heading into the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic, where the Orange will take on Old Dominion and Butler, Hillsman had only one thing he hopes Michael works on in anticipation of the trip. It’s a thought that could scare some of SU’s upcoming opponents.

He wants her to shoot more.

‘She didn’t take any bad shots,’ Hillsman said. ‘And I thought she still passed up a bunch of shots she could’ve took.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm