Quentin Hillsman called a timeout with 19 seconds left in the first half.

When play resumed, Rachel Coffey drove to the basket and drew a double team. She dished the ball off to Carmen Tyson-Thomas near the top of the key, and the Syracuse guard drained a 3-pointer as time expired. The shot capped a 12-0 run for the Orange.

Syracuse (1-0) cruised to an easy victory in its season opener on Sunday night in the Carrier Dome, as the Orange pulverized Fairleigh Dickinson (0-2) 94-47 in front of 783 fans. Kayla Alexander dominated in all facets of the game for Syracuse, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds, eight blocks and four steals. After getting off to a 24-3 start, SU never looked back and beat down on the Knights with conviction.

“When we first came out I said, ‘Please don’t start the game with five turnovers and being down 10-0. Everybody just relax. Calm down,’” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “They went out and played tough. That’s what you’re worried about when you start freshmen, but they did a masterful job.”

After experimenting with various starting lineups over the past few weeks in practice, Hillsman decided to test his highly touted freshman class right away. Brianna Butler, Brittney Sykes and Cornelia Fondren all started for SU along with veterans Elashier Hall and Alexander.

Sykes had 11 points, and Butler added 10, as Syracuse’s freshmen thrived in their first regular-season game.

“Our freshmen were amazing today,” Hillsman said. “I’m very happy for them. They did just what I thought they would do coming in: be immediate impact players.”

On her first touch, Butler’s heel grazed the sideline as she hesitated and drove toward the basket. After that turnover, though, Butler played a nearly flawless game, drilling her first shot from the same sideline with 15:40 to go in the half and adding another 3-pointer later in the half.

“Obviously starting as a freshman is nerve-wracking, but Coach told us to just go out there and play our game and slow it down,” Butler said. “That’s what we did, and once I started hitting shots I felt comfortable.”

Butler didn’t know she’d get the start until a few days prior to the game, and said she was surprised by how fast the game moved. She said she was a bit puzzled when she found herself out of breath from running up and down the court.

Hillsman was pleased with his team’s ability to force FDU into sloppy turnovers and turn defense into offense. The Orange elicited 29 turnovers and was able to score in bunches throughout the game thanks to a strong defensive effort.

“One of the things we wanted to do coming into this game was apply pressure and get some easy baskets,” Hillsman said. “We got 39 points off turnovers, which was big for us, and is something that we hadn’t done no matter who we’ve played in the last few years.”

FDU never led, and the Orange used 32 points in the paint and 23 fastbreak points to come away with the victory. The Orange also got 50 points from its bench, as Shakeya Leary tallied 11 and Tyson-Thomas chipped in with 10.

Alexander said the 3-point shooting was so lethal in the first half that she didn’t need to do much. Rather than force offense, she drew double teams and found open teammates.

Then in the second half, Alexander took over.

Rachel Coffey, who finished with nine assists, burst past a Fairleigh Dickinson defender, craftily dribbled behind her back and found Alexander perched under the basket.

Alexander used her 6-foot-4-inch frame to lay the ball up and in off the glass, putting the Orange up 50, 89-39. Guard Elashier Hall stood up from the Syracuse bench and shouted “Yeah! Yeah,” pumping her fist and bobbing her head in excitement.

Alexander had eight points during a two-minute stretch midway through the second half and used Coffey’s pinpoint passes to outmuscle undersized FDU defenders.

“It was a team effort,” Alexander said. “They were knocking down 3s. Then in the second half I did what I needed to do and did work down low. My teammates fed me.”

Published on November 11, 2012 at 11:49 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass