Just minutes before tipoff, freshman point guard Alexis Peterson stood in the middle of the Syracuse huddle, inspiring her teammates with an array of dance moves and a vivacious pep talk.

Peterson then began the game on the bench behind incumbent point guard Rachel Coffey — just as she has every game this season.

But in crunch time, with the Orange and Yellow Jackets entrenched in a back-and-forth thriller, Peterson was once again the center of attention.

While Syracuse’s star tandem of Brittney Sykes and Brianna Butler combined for 37 points, it was the freshman Peterson who captained the ship against Georgia Tech on Sunday. In just the second Atlantic Coast Conference game of her career, the rookie played like an absolute veteran, leading the Orange (12-4, 1-2 ACC) to a 76-70 victory over the Yellow Jackets (11-5, 1-2) in front of 772 at the Carrier Dome.

Peterson — who played 15 of her 17 minutes in the second half — was the first player mentioned in Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman’s postgame press conference.

“I’ve got to give it to Alexis Peterson tonight,” Hillsman said. “She really got in the game in the second half and calmed us down … She was huge. Like I said at media day and at postgame press conferences, once she gets confident and gets going, she’s going to be an excellent basketball player for us.”

A final stat line of seven points, three rebounds and two assists doesn’t illustrate the cool demeanor Peterson displayed throughout the game.

When SU’s second-string point guard Cornelia Fondren committed a turnover at the 14:52 mark of the second half with the Orange trailing 47-46, Hillsman turned to Peterson in favor of Coffey.

After Yellow Jackets guards Dawnn Maye and Tyaunna Marshall scored the next five points to extend the Yellow Jackets lead to 52-46, Peterson settled down and started to find her scorers.

Butler, who was ice cold in the first half, came alive in the final 10 minutes. And Sykes, who sat out from the 11:45-8:26 mark, checked back into the game and scored 10 points in the final stretch.

“We need people to step up, and today Lex was one of the players to step up, to lead the team and just play with poise and really help us out today,” Butler said.

While Butler heated up from beyond the arc, it gave Peterson lanes to drive to the hoop. Twice she cut six-point Georgia Tech leads to four, and converted a three-point play with 8:26 remaining to bring the Orange to within six.

With 6:29 to go, Peterson found Butler for a 3 to pull the Orange to within five at 63-58.
“Alexis made some layups early,” Hillsman said, “and then she shrunk the floor and had some kick out 3s, and then things kind of opened up for us.”

The 5-foot-7 guard was also a menace on the defensive end. With SU trailing 61-55, Peterson hustled and fought for a loose ball that resulted in a jump ball. And with the score knotted at 63 and Yellow Jackets guard Donnaizha Fountain charging toward the SU basket, Peterson tracked her down and forced a missed shot.

In the final minutes of the game, Peterson remained poised. She called two timeouts – including one with 38 seconds remaining – off of inbounds plays instead of being called for five-second violations.

“We have three very good point guards, and it just happened to be my time,” Peterson said. “I was happy that (Hillsman) instilled that trust in me to be able to make the plays down the stretch.”

Published on January 12, 2014 at 6:24 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu