Nicole Lentini’s one-handed heave from just inside the three-point line banked in as the shot clock expired. For Syracuse, facing a Long Island team that entered Monday shooting 45 percent from the field entering the game, LIU’s ability to hit lucky shots like that could have led to an upset.

Except, SU didn’t allow Long Island to shoot 45 percent Monday night. The Blackbirds couldn’t break 25 percent.

In fact, Lentini’s shot — the one-handed desperation toss at the rim — was the only field goal the Blackbirds made in a span of 14:32 against a smothering SU defense.

‘Everything that we worked on really came together tonight,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said.

That Orange defense’s game plan worked to perfection: Get outside and alter shots. And the result spoke for itself. Syracuse held Long Island to 24 percent shooting in a 90-36 rout, SU’s third straight victory to begin the season. Against a Blackbirds team that was dangerous from 3-point range in its first two games, The Orange (3-0) held LIU (2-1) to just 1-for-12 shooting from behind the arc.

The 54-point blowout was the largest margin of victory for SU since 1998, when the Orange won by 62 points — against Long Island.

‘We played our scheme well today,’ said Iasia Hemingway, who finished with four steals. ‘When they rotate the ball, it’s like we’re already there. They really can’t get any shots.’

The Orange defense was tenacious from start to finish. LIU tried to get outside looks, but the SU defense trapped Long Island’s shooters in the corner. Someone was always there to berate the LIU shooter and cause a bad shot or turnover.

Syracuse’s rotation on defense caused numerous air balls as the Blackbirds couldn’t get a decent shot all night. It led to Syracuse forcing 31 turnovers — and scoring 35 points off those turnovers.

‘Our forwards are definitely doing a great job playing up the floor,’ said Erica Morrow, who finished with 16 points and six steals. ‘It’s a little tough when (LIU) goes with a three-guard offense … our forwards, they get the credit.’

Long Island’s best 3-point shooter, Heidi Mothershead, entered the night shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc. The SU defense made sure she couldn’t get an open look.

Mothershead ran the baseline, from corner to corner, looking for the ball for a pull-up jumper. But every time she received the ball, she was quickly draped by an SU defender, if not two of them. It would be Morrow and Elashier Hall on one side of the court, and Hemingway on the other.

‘I was really worried about their shooters,’ Hillsman said. ‘We knew that the only way they could beat us was to make 12 or 13 3s.’

‘We wanted to get out on their shooters and we did that.’

In a span of eight possessions in the midst of a run of over six minutes without a field goal, the Blackbirds turned the ball over six times. The other two possessions: air-balled 3s, including one by Mottershead.

SUs success in perimeter defense was a stark contrast to the last time it faced a sharpshooter — the season opener against Northeastern. There, Northeastern’s Rachael Pecota knocked down seven 3s and Syracuse had to hold on for a close win.

This time, Mottershead was held scoreless.

‘It’s a confidence builder to know that we can make changes,’ Morrow said. ‘We can make quick turnarounds and make changes within the players.’

Syracuse’s defense caused scoring droughts throughout the entire game for Long Island. Early on, SU held the Blackbirds without a field goal for almost six minutes as it turned a three-point deficit into a 20-9 lead.

Long Island went into the locker room shooting just 20 percent from the field, but came out even worse to start the second half. The Blackbirds missed five shots and turned the ball over six times before Lentini’s buzzer-beater gave LIU its first field goal of the second half at the 14:17 mark.

But her heave didn’t get the team going. Long Island would miss seven more shots and turn the ball over nine more times before it could make a layup with 5:45 remaining. SU continually forced LIU into bad shots and bad passes, and by the time that layup was made, the Orange were staring at a 50-point lead.

Said Morrow: ‘I feel like we’re, I don’t want to say turning the corner because we got a long season, but I feel like we’re maturing a little bit. Everyone’s stepping up and doing what they have to do.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on November 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr