NEW YORK – The first three Syracuse shots of the second half could not find their way into the basket. Vionca Murray missed two close-range shots and Tasha Harris missed a 3-pointer as the Orange kept searching for its first points in the opening minutes of the second half against St. John’s.

Yet the opportunities to score never ceased. Despite the three missed shots, Syracuse grabbed each rebound, and Chandrea Jones finally scored SU’s first points of the half on its fourth attempt.

On the squad’s next possession, the Orange again missed three shots – but as it did before, the Orange grabbed each rebound. And just like the previous time, SU used the rebounds to score on its fourth attempt.

In that span of 1:22, in which SU missed six shots, it showcased facet of the game where SU would dominate St. John’s in the second half en route to victory. Syracuse’s 49-32 advantage in rebounds, including a 28-11 margin in the second half, propelled the Orange to a 79-78 victory over St. John’s Saturday. SU had 22 offensive rebounds in the contest to St. John’s 21 defensive boards, and a 19-9 advantage in second-chance points.

‘We just went and said go every time, like we were doing the first half of the season. Just go every time,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘We’ve been a very good rebounding team, especially offensively, and I think that we were in a position where we’re playing away from the basket, so we got right back there on the block.’

Syracuse and St. John’s both grabbed 21 rebounds in the first half, and the Red Storm led by four. Syracuse only had eight offensive rebounds and adjusted to playing without its third-leading rebounder, Juanita Ward, who missed the game for violating team conduct.

But in the second half, a different team showed up on the glass. Starting in that stretch of 1:22, in which Syracuse missed six of eight shots, the Orange gathered up the rebound on each missed shot and converted four second-chance points. Syracuse tied the game in that time and never trailed again.

Syracuse had 12 second-chance points in the second half, compared to St. John’s three. Much of Syracuse’s offense in the second half revolved around getting the ball inside for close-range shots that were either easily converted or, when missed, turned into easy put-back baskets.

On defense, the Orange limited St. John’s to one-shot possessions that allowed the Orange to build its lead up to as much as 10. St. John’s had just three offensive rebounds in the second half.

‘I just think that that was the turning point in the game,’ the Red Storm’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. ‘We’re even at half and we lost the game down 17 (in rebounds). It’s hard to win a basketball game when you give up 22 offensive rebounds. They had 19 of their points on second-chance point opportunities.’

Nicole Michael led the charge with 12 rebounds for the Orange, including five in the second half. With SU leading 57-53 and less than 12 minutes to go, Michael missed a shot, grabbed her own rebound and connected on the put-back to give Syracuse its biggest lead of the game at the time.

‘I just kept crashing the board,’ Michael said. ‘Coach yelled at me and told me I got to rebound, so I just kept on going.’

St. John’s guard Da’Shena Stevens said Syracuse was more physical and outworked the Red Storm. Barnes Arico said her team got in foul trouble because it attempted to play as it had in a loss to Connecticut earlier in the week and ‘got a little soft’ in the process.

In earlier games this season, Hillsman has been disappointed by his team’s ability to out-rebound a squad but not come away with the victory. He was glad to see that was not the case Saturday.

‘This is the Big East and we know it’s going to rough down there,’ Hillsman said. ‘So you’re just going to get down there and box out and go up on the glass and get it, and keep our players as close to the rim so we can rebound the basketball.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm