Syracuse hung around with Connecticut, but eventually the Huskies were a little too much for the Orange to handle.

After trimming the deficit to 10 on a Brianna Butler 3-pointer from the corner with 9:27 to go in the second half, Syracuse went cold the rest of the way.

The No. 3-seed Orange (24-7, 11-5 Big East) closed the game 2-for-10 from the field, falling 64-51 to second-seeded UConn (29-3, 14-2) in the Big East tournament semifinals at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. Despite a strong showing from Kayla Alexander – who notched her 2,000th career point – and Elashier Hall, Syracuse came up short against the perennial powerhouse. The Orange now awaits the NCAA Selection Show on Monday at 7 p.m.

“I thought we had opportunities down the stretch to get it to seven or eight to make a few plays but you got to give UConn a lot of credit,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman told reporters after the game. “Very good team, very good players and they’re a program that requires you to compete.”

And that’s exactly what Syracuse did. The last time the two teams met the Huskies whooped SU, emerging with a 25-point win. Monday night was a different story.

An Alexander layup off a pass from Carmen Tyson-Thomas at the 12:55 mark in the first half made the score 17-15 UConn. But then the Huskies embarked on a 7-0 run and busted the game open.

Connecticut went into halftime up 39-24, thanks in large part to Syracuse native Breanna Stewart, who scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting Monday night. Syracuse had no answer for the tandem of Stewart and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, as the Huskies worked the ball inside to the former and set screens for the latter to get open on the perimeter.

In the second half, though, the Orange turned to its bread and butter, its defense, to chip away at the deficit. SU’s defense – which entered Monday’s game leading the Big East with 12.6 steals per game – wreaked havoc early in the second half. Syracuse’s press and ball pressure created six turnovers during a 16-7 SU run spanning close to eight minutes early in the half.

“It’s tough to rattle off what we could have done and should have done, but more than anything else I was proud of the effort of my players because when the lead gets to 15 on a floor like this, they can easily go to 30, 40 and 50, and our kids battled back,” Hillsman said.

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma’s frustration became more and more evident with each turnover. While Syracuse’s defense forced turnovers and bad shots, its offense capitalized, too.

Tyson-Thomas drilled two 3s during the run and Hall added a layup while the Orange pounded the ball inside to Alexander. Following an 0-for-2 performance from the free throw line in the first half, Syracuse’s all-time leading scorer finished 8-of-10 from the stripe in the second as her teammates made a concerted effort to get her the ball.

After scoring a sizzling 34 points on 15-of-23 shooting against Villanova the night before, Alexander faced a tougher task against the interior duo of Stewart and Stefanie Dolson on Monday.

Overall, though, she responded. Her 2,000th career point came at the 1:40 mark in the second half. The 6-foot-4 center stepped to the line after getting fouled by Stewart and hit both free throws, coolly cracking the 2,000-point plateau.

“The fact that I hit 2,000 that’s mind blowing and I’m trying to wrap my head around that,” Alexander told reporters.

Despite Alexander’s big second half, UConn pulled away in the game’s final minutes as the Orange struggled mightily from the field. Free throws by Bria Hartley pushed the margin back into double digits and the Huskies never looked back.

Connecticut deprived the Orange of its third-ever trip to the Big East tournament championship and will look for a win in the finale Tuesday night against No. 1-seed Notre Dame.

“They got it done, give them credit,” Hillsman said. “They’re a great team and tomorrow night, UConn-Notre Dame is going to be an awesome game.”

Published on March 12, 2013 at 1:09 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass