Hartford, Conn. -- After falling behind by 13 points to the worst team in the conference, the Syracuse women’s basketball team dominated Seton Hall for a 65-42 victory Friday in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
Syracuse, playing without injured star forward Nicole Michael, found itself down 24-11 at the 9:43 mark of the first half before the Pirates’ shooting suddenly went ice cold. For the remainder of the game – covering nearly 30 minutes – the Pirates scored only 18 more points as the Orange put its transition game into high gear.
Senior forward Juanita Ward led SU’s two critical charges with showcase mini-bursts. Her first surge came with SU trailing 25-16 as she scored six of the ‘Cuse’s next eight points to pull the Orange within one, at 25-24.
Her second occurred 6½ minutes into the second half with the game tied at 36-36. Ward scored six straight points on a sweet bank shot, a fastbreak layup and a fullcourt solo drive after stealing the ball near the top of the key. It gave SU a 44-36 advantage and the Orange just pulled away steadily for the rest of the game.
"It wasn’t just me," said Ward, who finished with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. "Coach said we needed a team effort. Erica (Morrow) did a great job of helping us out, and we just stayed together on the floor."
Morrow had 18 points and the freshmen tandem of Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Elashier Hall were dominating on the boards, grabbing 24 total rebounds. Ward also nabbed nine caroms, as SU outrebounded the Pirates 58-35.
The extra help was needed as Syracuse played without Michael, their career leader in scoring and rebounds and an All-Big East First Team selection.
Morrow injured her right foot Monday night during SU’s 67-48 upset of No. 8 West Virginia and has kept the foot in a protective boot all week. But up to three minutes before tipoff, she was still penciled in as a starter. Hillsman pulled the plug after discussing Michael’s condition with team trainer Karen McKinney, who was carefully watching Michael during warmups.
"I asked my trainer, ‘Is she 100 percent?’ and Karen said no," Hillsman said. "That was it for me. There was no further discussion of her playing today."
Michael’s status for the rest of the tournament is unclear. Hillsman said she will continue to receive treatment and be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
"We are going to try again tomorrow (Saturday)," he said. "I just am not going to play a kid that is hurt. She means too much to me personally to risk any kind of future injury."
As for the game, Hillsman said he not only was happy with the victory – the first Big East Tournament game he has won in his four-year tenure – but also with the effort his players showed in the second half.
"I really challenged them at halftime," he said. "We didn’t talk about X’s and O’s. We just talked about wanting to win this basketball game and how much it means to us to just go out here and play with heart and character."
Syracuse (21-9) will play Providence at about 2 p.m. today in a second-round game. SU and the Friars tied for eighth place in the conference standings with 7-9 league records, but Providence (16-13 overall) beat SU 71-69 in their only meeting.
If Syracuse gets past Providence, it will face Connecticut (30-0, 16-0) in Sunday’s quarterfinals. UConn, the defending national champions, will be seeking its record-tying 70th consecutive victory in the game.
Notes: Neither team scorched the nets. The Pirates (9-21, 1-15) made only 30.4 percent of its shots from the field, including only 19 percent from 3-point range, and SU converted just 31.4 percent. The difference: SU took 14 more shots – partly due to a 28-12 edge in offensive rebounds – and made five more. …
SU’s transition power was evident in the stats, as the Orange outscored Seton Hall 16-0 on fastbreaks and 21-11 off turnovers. …
Attendance for the game was listed at 8,708, which must have included tickets sold for all four of Friday’s first-round games. Maybe 1,000 sat in for the contest. …
And the winners are: Connecticut senior center Tina Charles was named the Big East Player of the Year, winning over teammate and two-time reigning POY Maya Moore. Moore picked up the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year plaudit, while coach Geno Auriemma shared the Coach of the Year honors with West Virginia’s Mike Carey. Ta’Shauna "Sugar" Rodgers was named freshman of the year.
Chris Wagner
cwagner@syracuse.com