STORRS, Conn. — Iasia Hemingway finally got a clean catch. She caught a pass at the left elbow with a little room to breathe. Maya Moore wasn’t in her face.

Instead, Moore gave Hemingway a little space, and it made Hemingway think twice. She thought about a jump shot. She thought about driving. She did a little of both and was called for a travel.

‘Maya Moore is a great player,’ said Hemingway, the Syracuse guard. ‘I think I was second-guessing myself.’

The defense by Moore and teammate Stefanie Dolson shut down Syracuse’s high-low attack Monday in Connecticut’s 82-47 win over the Orange. Their physical play against Hemingway and SU center Kayla Alexander frustrated what has become the go-to option for head coach Quentin Hillsman. His two leading scorers — and best interior players — were limited to 19 combined points.

Though Alexander scored a layup on the opening possession for Syracuse, it was clear she and Hemingway were out of sync from that point. The next three possessions for the Orange all ended in turnovers — two by Alexander and one by Hemingway.

As Moore put pressure on Hemingway near the free-throw line, UConn center Dolson outmuscled Alexander on the low block. The 6-foot-5 Dolson kept her counterpart from getting early position on offense. Passes from Hemingway to Alexander were nearly impossible, and the turnovers resulted from forcing the ball inside.

‘They are a very good defensive team,’ Hillsman said. ‘They are able to get out and pressure you. That’s why we did a lot of dribble-handoff stuff.’

That consisted mostly of SU’s guards trying, and usually failing, to get into the lane against UConn’s defense.

Twice, Tasha Harris was forced to throw up a shot attempt with the shot clock winding down in the first half. And on two other possessions, Alexander was called for three-second violations as she worked to get open — unsuccessfully — down low.

When Hemingway finally caught the ball in some open space along the baseline, a position where she does not typically thrive, Moore was there to draw a charge.

‘UConn is a great team, and they’re No. 1 in the nation, so they’re going to give anybody a hard time with their defense,’ Hemingway said. ‘I think we just had to play a little more poised and basically try to get our guards to score. Because they were playing so tight on us.’

But the guards couldn’t score either. The Orange limped into halftime with just 20 total points, only five of which came from its starting guards.

As a result, Hemingway tried to force the ball to Alexander when she didn’t have good position. Alexander threw up ill-advised shots that sometimes hit nothing but the backboard against Dolson.

A 56 percent shooter this season, Alexander was held to just 30 percent on 3-of-10 from the field. She finished with six points and only a single rebound.

‘Obviously (Dolson) is a tough player,’ Hillsman said. ‘She’s one of the most dominant post players in our conference. I hope that our kids can progress as fast as she’s progressing, and we can have a dominant post player like she is going to be.’

That dominance was exemplified on one possession in the second half.

After good defense by Dolson forced Alexander to miss a layup, Phylesha Bullard fought for the offensive rebound. She pulled it in for SU and found teammate Carmen Tyson-Thomas streaking down the lane. As she pulled up for a jumper, Moore swatted the shot out of bounds with her right hand as the student section went berserk.

‘We expect to win,’ Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma said. ‘When you go out on the court and expect to win, you do things that lead to that.’

The effect Dolson and Moore had on the game became evident as soon as Auriemma subbed Moore out for the final time in the second half. Hemingway caught the ball on consecutive possessions for the Orange and went right to the rim, scoring both times.

But despite the frustration, Hillsman said Hemingway can use this game as a learning experience. She was challenged by one of the best, and now she has to work to get better.

‘I thought that Maya did one of her better jobs I’ve seen her do of actually guarding,’ Hillsman said. ‘It was a good matchup for Iasia to see what she has to do against great players.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on February 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13