Iasia Hemingway didn’t know which teammate it came from on the court.

The scream was demanding. Rachel Coffey was taking control of the offense and yelling out calls, and as soon as Hemingway heard it, she knew Coffey’s maturation into a confident, vocal point guard was complete.

‘I was shocked. I haven’t heard it, I was like, ‘That’s what I’m talking about,” Hemingway said. ‘That’s what we need. We need somebody that’s going to tell us what we’re doing wrong, what we’re not doing wrong.’

After struggling late in the regular season, Syracuse’s offense has hit its stride to keep its season alive in the postseason. It’s no coincidence the Orange (22-14) has found a balanced offense as Coffey has become the unquestioned leader of the offense, a role SU needed her to grow into. She’s hitting shots from deep with ease, including a 3-pointer in Syracuse’s last game against Toledo with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game in overtime and allow the Orange to escape with a 74-73 win.

Coffey’s heroics against the Rockets helped Syracuse advance to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history, and the team will play at James Madison on Wednesday.

Syracuse needed Coffey to take on the role of floor general after the Orange lost four of its final six regular-season games, skidding into the postseason with its offense in flux. But Coffey was on fire, especially in Syracuse’s 65-62 loss to Georgetown, when the sophomore hit five 3s to give the Hoyas fits down the stretch.

When she hit that shot against the Rockets to send SU to the semifinals, it didn’t come as much of a shock. With her confidence high, she decided to take the shot herself with the game – and season – on the line.

‘Well, I came down, obviously there wasn’t a lot of seconds left,’ Coffey said. ‘I came off a screen off (Elashier Hall), and then no one was open, so I was thinking, ‘It’s five seconds left so I have to do something,’ so I shot the ball.’

At the start of the season, head coach Quentin Hillsman employed a point guard-by-committee system, in which whoever was playing best saw the most minutes. Coffey, Shanee Williams and La’Shay Taft shared the role, but Coffey eventually outplayed the others. Now, the guard averages 27.4 minutes per game.

Hillsman said that amount of time she sees on the floor makes her performances even more impressive.

‘She started the season not starting at the position, up to now, pretty much playing every minute on the floor that she can play,’ Hillsman said. ‘She’s definitely grown up over the year, and she’s been playing really good basketball for us.’

Coffey’s also earned herself some leeway when it comes to making turnovers. Against Toledo, Hillsman said his point guard made two turnovers that he would’ve commented on early in the season. But before he said anything, the head coach did the math in his head.

Four games in the WNIT. About 120 minutes on the floor to that point.

Hillsman decided that she’s allowed to dribble the ball off her foot once or twice.

The more he put the ball in Coffey’s hands, the more he showed he believed in her, the better she played.

‘It really just got to a point where I knew I had to give her the opportunity just to play,’ Hillsman said. ‘I think that once I put the ball in her hands and just give her the opportunity just to play, I think that her confidence really skyrocketed.’

Center Kayla Alexander finally has some room to breathe in the low post with opponents responding to Coffey and defending out to the 3-point line. And Alexander’s been taking advantage, especially in Syracuse’s 82-68 win over Temple in the third round when she had 29 points.

‘When Rachel plays well, she gets the whole team going,’ Alexander said. ‘Rachel’s our point guard, she leads us. When she’s hot, we’re hot.’

Right now, the whole Orange offense is taking advantage of Coffey’s hot hand. At a time in the season when it’s win or go home, Syracuse has kept winning.

And if Coffey keeps knocking down shots and leading the offense with confidence, Syracuse might be playing for a championship.

‘I think that if she continues to play this way,’ Hillsman said, ‘she’ll make our game a lot easier.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on March 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman