With 8:52 to go in the first half and Vermont up by two, Syracuse point guard Alexis Peterson grabbed a steal and guard Maggie Morrison sprinted to the other end of the court. Peterson fed Morrison, who caught the ball and settled, bringing her right foot toward her body before sinking a 3 as a Catamounts defender closed in.

Two and half minutes later, Morrison launched another 3 that bounced off the back of the rim and fell in, starting an 18-5 run that the Orange took into the break.

After a foul, Morrison went the bench and high-fived a line of waiting teammates.

“It was a good open look and that’s what we have to take,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We can’t pass up open shots. She did a very good job of just knocking down an open three and that’s all we can ask for is when you’re open, shoot the ball and knock it down.”

After being held scoreless in three of the first four games she played this season, Morrison scored eight points in the first half and totaled a career-high 11 on the night. Her two 3s started the deciding run that reclaimed the game for No. 21 Syracuse in the first half. Morrison logged 21 minutes off the bench, grabbing three rebounds and two steals, and shot a team-high 60 percent from beyond the arc in SU’s (5-1) 94-63 win over Vermont (0-6) in the Carrier Dome on Monday.

“It felt good,” Morrison said. “I’ve been struggling in the first couple games this season, but you know having the support and the belief of my teammates and my coaching staff has kept my confidence high and energy high.

“It just went in today I guess.”

With the Orange up 35-29, Morrison missed two shots in a row before sprinting back on defense in frustration. She snagged a defensive rebound then drew a foul, sinking the two ensuing free throws to continue SU’s run — each one with a bounce and a spin of the ball in her hands preceding the shot.

She went to the bench again, hardly staying in her seat while yelling at the defense to “keep it tight.” When she returned to the court three minutes later, she grabbed a steal that gave SU its final possession of the half.

Coming out of the break, Morrison stayed on the bench until 14:36 to go in the second half, when Hillsman practically threw her onto the court.

She ran to the top of the key, faced the net and drained her third 3 of the game. The SU bench rose to its feet, each player hoisting three fingers in the air.

Morrison watched her shot fall, then turned to find to her player to guard on defense.

“Maggie is one of our best shooters on this team,” Peterson said. “Everybody has their nights and I know Maggie is capable of doing that every night.”

And though Morrison had shown moments of frustration throughout the game, the transfer from Vanderbilt who sat out all of last season was the first one jogging toward the locker room following the game — laughing and smiling.

“We need her to make shots,” Hillsman said. “I thought that tonight she did a very good job of taking every open shot. … If she can continue to do that and add another spark that’s coming off the bench, that’s going to be pretty good.”

Published on December 1, 2014 at 11:08 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus