It took two minutes to see that North Carolina Central didn’t stand a chance.

On the Eagles’ first possession, trying to break free of Syracuse’s hounding press, Khyra Conerly threw the ball right into the hands of SU’s Alexis Peterson, who raced up the court as NCCU defenders tried to catch her. The next three Eagles chances would each result in turnovers as well, and by the time Brianna Bulter corralled a Conerly air ball before hitting a 3 on the other end of the court, it was 9-0. Only 127 seconds had ticked off the clock.

“You want to pressure and impart your will on teams,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “And I thought that we kind of had a little beat on their press break, and I knew they’d get into it right away, and we guessed right.”

On an afternoon when Syracuse struggled to hit its shots – going just 33.3 percent from the field – it still found a way to hound an inferior N.C. Central (2-8) team that had an impossible time finding a rhythm on offense. No. 20 Syracuse (7-1) forced 30 turnovers and recorded 15 steals as it defeated the Eagles 70-25 on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome in front of 447.

“I definitely think getting steals early is beneficial for us,” Butler said. “It definitely leads into our offense, allowing us to get into our offense getting the ball, stealing from them and being able to get fast break layups.”

With 3 minutes left in the first half, NCCU’s Racquel Davis tried to break the pressure by passing to Conerly, but it hit off her fingertips, and Peterson pounced on it before getting fouled as desperate Eagles players trailed her down the court.

As Rachel Williams tried to break the press two possessions later, she was hounded by two SU players. She muscled her way up the court with Briana Day sticking to her, before Willams lost the handle on the basketball. As it rolled out of bounds, she turned around and slowly trudged up the court.

The Orange smothered N.C. Central into inept passing and allowed to Orange to trap the shorter — all but two players are 6-foot or less — and slower Eagles on every opportunity it got. Syracuse pressed after each made basket, timeout, or dead-ball turnover, effectively running the Eagles off the court.

“I think this was an improving game, we stepped up in a lot of areas that we weren’t doing so good in in the beginning,” Day said. “Overall, I think this was a really good game for us.”

Day said that the improvement was starting off the game strong, which the Orange has struggled with this season. Today, SU had a 12-point lead before the first media timeout. That deficit wouldn’t get closer than six as Syracuse dominated in a game that was meant to be a blowout.

Even though Hillsman said he wants to see his team get out in transition and make more open shots, the pressure that creates those opportunities was more than enough in a 45-point win over an inferior Eagles team.

“I thought that as we started changing our defenses throughout the game, it gave us a few advantages,” Hillsman said. “…I thought our pressure turned the ball over. And the key is getting more possessions and more shots.”

Published on December 14, 2014 at 3:43 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3