With Kayla Alexander providing a dominant force in the paint en route to a career game, the pressure on her teammates would seemingly be lessened. With Alexander making shot after shot, the other four Syracuse players on the floor should have a little more room for error.

Instead, Orange head coach Quentin Hillsman said the pressure only increases. When Alexander’s playing that well, SU’s guards have an obligation to get her the ball at all costs.  

‘I think it’s probably more pressure, honestly, because they have to get her the ball and make sure they’re not turning the ball over trying to get it to her,’ Hillsman said. ‘I think it becomes where the other four players on the floor know that she’s rolling, they have to get her the ball.’

Syracuse (5-0) fed the ball to Alexander in the low post as much as possible on Saturday, as the senior center scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Orange to a 90-57 win over Binghamton (3-2). Alexander finished the game 12-of-14 from the floor, and also grabbed 10 rebounds, seven of which came on the defensive glass. And to put an exclamation point on the day, Alexander also scored her 1,000th-career point, becoming the 21^st player in program history to reach that mark.

SU got off to a sluggish start, as it let the Bearcats go on a 10-2 scoring run early in the game. A La’Shay Taft 3-pointer closed the Orange deficit to just seven, and then two straight baskets by Alexander brought Syracuse to within three.

Hillsman said that Binghamton got off to a quick start, while his team struggled to get into an offensive groove.

‘We just missed some shots early, and I thought they made a 3 and we fouled them in transition,’ Hillsman said. ‘They made two or three shots, and that was the key to the game. Obviously, when they start out early making shots, you have to be careful.’

Junior Shanee Williams’ first 3-pointer of the season gave the Orange its first lead of the game, and also sent Syracuse on a 11-2 scoring run that eventually gave it a seven-point lead. The Orange took a 17-point lead into halftime, and Binghamton never pulled closer than 11 for the rest of the game.

Sophomore guard Rachel Coffey came off the bench and scored nine points and had a career-high five assists. Coffey’s a part of the ‘point guard by committee’ group, as Hillsman continues to find a stable option to replace Erica Morrow and Tasha Harris.

Taft started at point guard on Saturday, and Hillsman said Coffey needs to take advantage of the time she sees on the court, just as she did against Binghamton.

‘She’s playing well. And that’s what she needs to do, when she get the opportunities, she needs to play well,’ Hillsman said. ‘She had an opportunity to step up and play good, and she had a great game.’

The Orange’s rout against Binghamton was the latest in SU’s opening five games of the season. Syracuse is blowing out its opponents, winning its games by an average of 31 points.

Still, Hillsman said his team is playing well because of its talent level, not because SU’s opponents have been inferior. But Syracuse will be challenged to a greater degree this week when it plays at Boise State and then faces Arizona and BYU in the Hukilau Invitational next weekend.

‘We’re just playing well. I really believe that we’re playing well and we’re making a priority on getting the ball inside,’ Hillsman said. ‘That’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve had opportunities to get the ball inside, and it’s been the thing that we’ve really been preaching, to get the ball to the low post.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on November 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman