Presbyterian tried to press Syracuse — once.

At the 12:12 mark of the first half, the Blue Hose attempted to give SU a dose of its own medicine. With the Orange leading by two, Presbyterian came out in full-court pressure. Two quick passes later, its attempt ended in a Vionca Murray three-point play.

The truth was obvious: Presbyterian simply couldn’t run with the Orange Monday.

That simple fact spelled trouble for Presbyterian (0-2) the entire night, as Syracuse (2-0) coasted to a record-breaking 97-56 victory in the Carrier Dome Monday night before 375 people. Syracuse’s output Monday set a record for most points scored in the Dome for a women’s basketball game. Seniors Nicole Michael and Vionca Murray and freshman Kayla Alexander led SU in scoring with 14 points each.

‘We really wanted to play fast,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘We wanted to force turnovers, so I thought that overall, we did a very good job of playing at our speed. At the end of the day, we want them to play at our pace, play at our tempo, and we want to play at the rim.’

Several possessions after Murray’s basket, SU inbounded the ball from the same spot on the sideline. This time, the Blue Hose was nowhere to be found — back in a 2-3 zone. A safe place it chose to reside for the rest of the night.

Murray’s score was the beginning of a 10-0 run for the Orange that gave it a 12-point lead it never came close to relinquishing. Over the next 24-plus minutes, when Presbyterian sat back in its 2-3 zone, Syracuse jetted everywhere — intercepting passes and forcing shot-clock violations thanks to the full-court man-to-man pressure it employed for the first 32 minutes of the game.

‘I think we did really good at executing what coach has put on the board for us to play hard,’ said senior forward Juanita Ward, who notched 13 points. ‘Vionca did a really good job at executing at that possession.’

Thanks to its non-stop full-court press, Syracuse forced 12 turnovers, 11 steals and six blocks in the game — statistics that led to everything from an astounding 36 points off turnovers, to a slew of shot-clock violations. Presbyterian even had several attempts careen off of the stanchion holding up its basket.

‘That was impressive,’ Hillsman said. ‘We had some five-second calls, and we did a good job of even not giving them shots in a possession. And if you can do that, you are playing pretty good defense.’

SU’s lead ballooned toward the end of the first half, which stemmed from its non-stop pressure. But that wasn’t enough to calm Hillsman. The Orange’s fourth-year head coach continued to have his players perform at a high tempo. And if starting point guard Tasha Harris or anyone else wasn’t going to comply, even with a huge lead, he let them know.

‘Run, Run,’ Hillsman screamed at Harris while stepping onto the court after the junior let her man beat her on a full-court press in the first half.

Even the team’s tallest player, Alexander, extended pressure defense all the way to the 3-point line. The 6-foot-4 freshman dropped into her best on-ball defensive stance, as she-tip toed the line during Syracuse’s 14-0 run to start the second half. It was a dominating stretch that effectively ended the game.

In his postgame press conference, Hillsman said he would like to play at this pace for the rest of the season. On Monday, it appeared as if SU has the pieces in place to do it, as 10 players played at least 15 minutes.

At the point guard position, Syracuse looked especially strong, thanks to a seven-assist performance from Harris, and a 12-point output in only 15 minutes from her backup, Lynnae Lampkins.

Lampkins was at the head of the Syracuse transition offense for a good portion of the night – a position the speedy sophomore from Upper Marlboro, Md., is more than comfortable with.

‘I’ve been doing that my whole life,’ Lampkins said. ‘So just running the ball is natural.’

And much like Hillsman, before tip-off, Lampkins let it be known to her teammates. She, as well, doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Said Lampkins: ‘I told them before the game, ‘I’m going to push the ball, so just run.”

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on November 16, 2009 at 12:00 pm