As the final eight seconds ticked off the scoreboard, Erica Morrow stood at the opposite end of the court from her team, holding the ball with two hands. She didn’t move at all, for fear of a referee’s whistle, a travel, anything that could take away the moment.

She watched the clock, and once the buzzer sounded, she breathed a sigh of relief. One of the biggest wins in Syracuse women’s basketball history was complete.

‘We finished the game the way we should have finished it,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘With the ball in our hands.’

And it was most fitting that it ended with the ball in Morrow’s hands. She was everything she needed to be as the leader of Syracuse Saturday, scoring 27 points as the Orange upset No. 6 Ohio State 75-66 in front of 2,742 in the Carrier Dome. Morrow shot 10-of-18 from the field, including four 3-pointers. She hit shot after shot throughout the game as SU (8-0) staved off multiple comeback attempts by the Buckeyes (7-1).

Iasia Hemingway was the only other player in double digits for Syracuse, with 12 points and eight rebounds. It was Morrow who carried Syracuse to a halftime lead and made sure the Orange sustained it in the second half.

‘She played a monster game,’ Hillsman said. ‘This is why we brought her here. This is why we’ve got Iasia here. To step up and play against big-time programs.’

Morrow said she knew it was going to be a good night for her from her first shot of the game. With the Orange down 5-0 early, the senior drained a 3 that settled things down for SU. Almost every other big play along the way was made by Morrow as well. She hit a leaner to give Syracuse its first lead of the game at 25-24.

Later on, Syracuse got the ball for the final shot of the half. Hillsman — who in previous games called a timeout in similar situations to draw up a play — let Morrow handle it. Morrow took it herself, dribbling down the clock and knocking down a 3 from the top of the key with six seconds left to give the Orange a 35-28 lead heading into the break.

‘Just to know that I’m an extension of Coach on the court and he trusts me to make play calls,’ Morrow said.

Morrow and Syracuse played against Ohio State two years ago. She led the Orange with 23 points, but it was on 10-of-28 shooting, and SU lost by seven.

This time, at home, Morrow was much more efficient.

‘That’s the first look (for me) is to be an offensive threat,’ Morrow said. ‘But it definitely goes to our game plan. They were going underneath screens, which puts them in the key, and I have the option outside with those shots.’

Ohio State fought back throughout the second half. Buckeyes star center Jantel Lavender led OSU with 26 points and eight rebounds, and point guard Samantha Prahalis — the nation’s leader in assists per game — had 17 points and eight assists.

But Morrow was always there to answer. When Taylor Hill hit a 3 to pull OSU within six points at 39-33, Morrow did what she did to end the first half, driving up the court and hitting a 3 to extend Syracuse’s lead back to nine.

‘It’s huge to have a leader like that,’ SU center Kayla Alexander said. ‘But that’s Erica’s game. When you need her she comes up big.’

The closest Ohio State got in the second half was when it tied the game at 56 with 8:34 to play. From there, the next two minutes were Morrow’s. Morrow drove coast-to-coast and drew a foul going in for a layup. She made one of two free throws to give SU the lead back.

She followed that up by grabbing a defensive rebound and pushing the ball up the court, feeding it to Hemingway at the very end for a layup. Morrow’s jumper with 6:56 left gave SU a 61-56 lead.

Hillsman called this game for Syracuse a ‘program game.’ Morrow — the face of the SU program — made it a program game.

And she held the ball as the buzzer sounded, as she should have.

‘In the heat of the game things can get a little crazy,’ Morrow said, ‘and just to be able to have your teammates look to you be able to calm them down and put them in the right positions. … It’s definitely an honor.

‘I know it’s an important win for the program but more so important for the girls who are here now.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on December 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr