After 14 minutes went by in the first half, Syracuse’s play wasn’t getting any cleaner. Eight turnovers in 14 minutes defined an anemic offensive attack, as SU struggled to gain any separation from a St. Bonaventure team struggling just as much on its end.

But in a choppy, scrappy game in which neither team was making a move, Iasia Hemingway took over. And as Bonnies head coach Jim Crowley said, Syracuse’s junior guard ‘was the difference.’

‘We just really had no consistent answer for her,’ Crowley said. ‘Through her effort and through her ability to get to the foul line and win loose balls.’

Hemingway’s near double-double in the first half — nine points, 12 rebounds — helped Syracuse turn a four-point lead with less than six minutes to play into a 12-point halftime advantage in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

She played with the tenacity she has shown all season for the Orange, and SU relayed that into a 63-50 win over St. Bonaventure on Monday in front of 240 in the Carrier Dome. Hemingway was the star, scoring a team-high 14 points and pulling down a career-high 17 rebounds, as the Orange (24-9) never led by less than seven in the second half.

The Orange advances to the third round of the tournament, where it will play Eastern Michigan on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Dome.

‘Fourteen and 17, that’s a monster game,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘She’s the reason why we won the game tonight.’

Hemingway ignited a stagnant SU offense first by passing, finding guard Tasha Harris open in the left corner for a 3 that gave the Orange its first lead of the game, 15-14. From there, she went to work on the boards.

At the first media timeout, the Bonnies (21-12) grabbed three offensive rebounds and were outrebounding SU 7-6. But by halftime, the Orange held a plus-11 rebounding margin, mainly due to Hemingway’s career night on the glass.

‘I was actually surprised about how many rebounds I had,’ Hemingway said. ‘They told me at the end of the game, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I didn’t even notice.’

After Kayla Alexander missed a layup from the left block, Hemingway swooped in to grab the board and got fouled on the putback, making one of two free throws.

Then, off a Carmen Tyson-Thomas missed 3-pointer, Hemingway came in from the far side uncontested to grab the rebound. She was fouled on her putback attempt again and sunk both free throws this time.

For the last 15:04 of the first half, from the first media timeout on, Hemingway outrebounded St. Bonaventure by herself, 9-8.

Crowley said he could see Hemingway’s constant will and effort while watching film of Syracuse leading up to the game.

‘The word I used when we were watching film was relentless,’ Crowley said. ‘And she was great to watch, other than the fact we knew we were going to play her. She just has an incredible tenacity and a really good reaction to the basketball.’

Hemingway’s 14 points were especially key on a night when Alexander, Syracuse’s leading scorer, struggled. She never really got in a rhythm on offense, finishing with 12 points and getting to the line just once for two attempts.

Hemingway got to the line for eight attempts, making six. But after being held in check for parts of the second half, she imposed her will on the Bonnies when they started creeping close.

After St. Bonaventure went on a 6-0 run to close within 10 at 43-33, SU went to work on the offensive boards once again. Shakeya Leary rebounded a Tyson-Thomas miss, but her putback wouldn’t go.

It bounced off the rim over to the left block, where Hemingway was in perfect position, boxing out a St. Bonaventure player. Her 15th rebound led to a much-needed SU bucket, ending a two and a half minute scoring drought.

‘I thought we did a great job rebounding the basketball,’ Hillsman said. ‘And Iasia was huge for us. Kayla didn’t have the kind of game that she normally has percentage-wise, but I thought our size kind of wore them down, getting on the glass, offensive rebounds kind of put the game away.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on March 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr