The wake-up call came early this season for the Syracuse women’s basketball team.

In disposing of its first two opponents – Farleigh Dickinson and Presbyterian – with relative ease, the Orange was sound in every phase of the game. SU hung a Carrier Dome women’s-record 97 points on Presbyterian, and used a swarming defensive press to hold FDU to 45 points.

But that wasn’t the case Thursday night. The Orange struggled to find a rhythm throughout the game, limping to a sloppy 74-66 victory over Alabama State in front of a crowd of 336 at Manley Field House. After the game, head coach Quentin Hillsman was visibly irritated at his team’s performance and effort in the victory.

‘We didn’t play with any fire, no enthusiasm,’ Hillsman said. ‘We acted like we didn’t want to be here.

‘I’ll take the ‘W,’ but it’s tough to swallow.’

Syracuse (3-0) shot just 30 percent from the field, and only 59.5 percent from the line, in its worst offensive showing of the year thus far. The Orange also committed 18 turnovers, leading to 10 Alabama State points.

Also, the bigger, longer Orange committed a whopping 21 fouls while allowing the Lady Hornets (1-2) to grab 14 offensive rebounds, leading to more criticism from Hillsman.

‘Fourteen offensive rebounds is totally unacceptable,’ Hillsman said. ‘Twenty-one personal fouls, totally unacceptable. We’re going to get back in the gym, we’re going to work hard, and we’re going to figure out what we have to do to be a better basketball team.’

From the opening tip, it was clear the Orange wasn’t in the same rhythm as its first two contests. After five lead changes in the first half, the game was left knotted at 35, the eighth tie score of the half.

At halftime, Hillsman said he tried to motivate his team to play with more aggression. He switched the defense to the 2-3 zone, trying to protect three of his players that had two fouls in the first half.

‘They beat us up and down,’ Hillsman said. ‘I knew that if we continued to play that way, we would foul out.’

Both of his moves worked – to some avail. The Orange struck first, storming out of the locker room in the first few minutes of the second half.

On the strength of a 16-6 run, the Orange came out of the gate strong to take a 53-45 lead six minutes into the half. Junior guard Erica Morrow and senior forward Nicole Michael scored the first 12 points, springing their team to a comfortable lead.

‘I was just thinking we needed to stop doing things out of character and take it to our game plan,’ said Morrow, who had 20 points.

But the Lady Hornets proceeded to go on a 7-0 run from there, closing the gap to just one and holding SU scoreless for over four minutes.

The Orange scored the next eight points, leaving them with a 61-52 advantage with just under eight minutes to play.

Again though, the Lady Hornets refused to go away, cutting the lead to five before junior guard Tasha Harris and Michael provided the dagger with back-to-back three-pointers, giving SU a comfortable 67-56 lead they would hold.

Michael scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, her 23rd career double-double in an Orange uniform. She also shot 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

‘I’m confident in my 3-point shot,’ Michael said. ‘If I’m open, I’m going to take them.’

Also on the bright side was freshman forward Kayla Alexander, who continued her impressive stretch to open her Syracuse career with 12 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

Yet, Hillsman won’t be looking back on this game as a positive.

‘We’re 3-0, but overall I’m not happy with our effort today,’ Hillsman said. ‘We have to do a better job.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on November 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm