Syracuse Uses Pressure to Crush Central Connecticut State

Story and photo by Robert Magobet

Syracuse, N.Y. -  Led by Briana Day and Diamond Henderson, Syracuse got off to a fast start and pummeled Central Connecticut State 74-43 on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome. It was the final tune-up game for the No. 21/22 Orange Women before Atlantic Coast Conference play. “Just really proud of our kids,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “It’s really one of our more complete games shooting 42-percent from the field; that’s very good for us. We turned them over 28 times. Our pressure was very good. I thought we got into our press and forced tempo. The more free-throws you get the more times you can press. That was the difference in the game.”

Defense:

The Orange (10-3) started with a 13-2 run because of the press defense both full-court and half. Though Brianna Butler hit the game’s first basket with a three-pointer, the main contributors were Briana Day and Diamond Henderson.

The 6'4" sophomore center Day set the tone early and often by scoring down low, making key passes, blocking shots and playing solid defense on Central Connecticut State’s leading scorer Tejahne Malone, who wound up with just 9 points. Day contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, two steals and seven blocks.

“I don’t think I played that well,” Day said. “But I did okay. I can always do better I feel like. So I’m going to work on that for our next game and throughout the year."

The Lady Blue Devils (4-7)  shot only four free throws for the night, converting three.

“I’m very impressed that we weren’t fouling that much,” Day said. “That was our goal going into the game, not getting them a lot of free throws. Yea we did pretty well with that tonight so I’m pretty impressed.”

With 2:55 left in the first half, the score was 26-20 but the Orange ended the half on a 10-0 run—the point in the game when Central Connecticut State began to fade. Day had three blocks, two rebounds, one steal and three points in that time span. Henderson chipped in one steal and four points —she finished the game with 15 points, four assists and two steals.

“I think I’m playing alright,” Henderson said. “I don’t think I played my best basketball yet but overall I think I’ve been playing alright. You can only build from here.  This is about to be the most fun getting into the conference.”

 Alexis Peterson snatched an offensive rebound and scored a basket with nine seconds left in the first half making the score 35-20. Peterson made a free-throw that put the score at 36-20 at the end of the half. Peterson totaled 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.

“Well I think it just gives us momentum going into the second half knowing that we are ahead knowing that we ended on a good run,” Henderson said. “So then we came out in the second half and still had that same energy.”

Second string doesn’t miss a beat in second half:

The Orange continued to stifle the offense of Central Connecticut State by way of full-court traps, half-court traps and solid rotations on defense. The Orange expanded the lead to 58-38 before Briana Day subbed out for the remainder of the game. 

Toward the end of the second half, a mixture of reserves subbed in and played with key contributors Henderson and Fondren—Fondren finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

 “That was huge,” Hillsman said. “We had an opportunity just to keep some of our players off the floor and get them off their feet which is critical going into the second half of the season. Obviously legs are legs, so the more you keep them off the hardwood the better their going to be later in the season.”

Keys to the Game:

Syracuse scored 32 points off of the 28 forced turnovers in comparison to Central Connecticut State’s 12 forced turnovers leading to 11 points. The Orange shot 42.9-percent from the field versus Central Connecticut State’s 29.8- percent. Syracuse had 30 points in the paint versus six point for Central Connecticut State. Syracuse amassed 19 fast break points—Central Connecticut State didn’t score off fast breaks.

 What’s Next?

The Orange plays No. 4 Notre Dame 1 p.m. at the Carrier Dome this Sunday, Jan. 4 to open ACC play.