After Digna Strautmane air-balled a wide open 3-pointer from the left wing in the second quarter, she looked back sheepishly at SU head coach Quentin Hillsman on the sideline. 

Hillsman simply shook his head, as this was Strautmane’s third missed 3-pointer. He needed his team to attack the basket more and stop settling for long shots.

At the time of Strautmane’s shot, SU led by five points. But eventually, No. 20 Syracuse (3-0) emphasized getting to the rim and pulled away, beating unranked Albany (1-3) 75-53 in the Carrier Dome. Led by slashing guards Kiara Lewis (17 points) and Gabrielle Cooper (10) as well as forward Emily Engstler (14), Syracuse outscored the Great Danes 38-20 in the paint.

“I thought we did a better job in the second half of really just getting off the bounce and playing downhill and playing in the paint and that giving us offensive rebounding opportunities” Hillsman said.

The first quarter ended in a 16-16 tie. In that quarter, SU scored 10 of its 16 points in the paint, but struggled to get stops and flash out to open Albany players on the 3-point line. At one point in the opening quarter, Albany drained two 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions while Syracuse’s Amaya Finklea-Guity and Taleah Washington missed consecutive shots.

But a new team emerged from the huddle in the second quarter. After a defensive rebound, Engstler pushed the ball down the court and delivered a skip pass to Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, leading to an overhead floater.

“We were being stagnant,” Cooper said, “We were holding the ball a lot. We were supposed to be weaving, instead we’re holding the ball, not attacking when we’re supposed to and shooting bad shots. We just started shooting better shots and making the defense work more.” 

Once Syracuse’s offensive stagnation ceased, it built up a double-digit lead. SU won the second quarter 18-8 and continued to score around the rim in the second half. 

At one point, Washington made a running one-handed jumper despite a collapsing Albany defense. The bench cleared and when the whistle blew indicating a defensive shooting foul, Alisha Lewis flexed her bicep and hyped up her other teammates on the bench. 

As Syracuse extended its commanding lead, the Orange became increasingly aggressive in the paint, scoring layups in traffic and getting to the free throw line. In total, Syracuse shot 22 free throws to Albany’s four, indicating a strong presence inside. 

“We were finishing around the rim, finishing through contact, had a lot of and-1s,” Cooper said.

Many of SU’s inside opportunities came from second-chance opportunities. In total, Syracuse had 28 defensive rebounds to Albany’s total of 31.

Off two separate free throw misses in the third quarter, Washington — a 5-foot-7 freshman guard — tracked down offensive rebounds over much taller Albany opponents. She converted one rebound into a put-back layup and the other led to a Cooper 3-pointer.

In their previous game against Maryland Eastern Shore, the Orange relied heavily on 3-pointers, when they put up 37 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, they only scored 18 points in the paint compared to a season-high 38 on Saturday. 

“We always talk about pressing the ball inside,” Hillsman said. “Because teams are really gonna start taking away our three-point shot.” 

Published on November 16, 2019 at 6:10 pm