The Syracuse women’s basketball team opened its game against Long Island in a slump.

 

After Iasia Hemingway scored the first bucket of the game on a fastbreak lay-up, the Orange missed nine-straight shots. Seven minutes in, SU managed just six points.

 

But head coach Quentin Hillsman said that even in a stretch like that, Syracuse simply has to keep shooting.

 

‘They have to,’ he said. ‘They can’t pass up shots. They’ve got to take open shots. We can’t get to a point where we’re gun-shy, and we stop shooting.’

 

The Orange (3-0) did exactly what its coach said, shooting its way out of the slump and into a 90-36 romp over the Blackbirds (2-1). Sparked by Carmen Tyson-Thomas’ back-to-back 3’s eight minutes into the game that ended the scoring drought, SU went on to shoot 63 percent from the field for the rest of the half. It hit eight 3-pointers in the first and finished shooting 45.6 percent from beyond the arc in the game.

 

‘We shoot every single play every day so we know there’s going to be different stretches where we might not make any baskets,’ said senior guard Erica Morrow, who led the team with 16 points. ‘We stuck to our scheme, and we just got through it.’

 

While the Orange stifled Long Island on the defensive end, its offense could not muster up any scoring. Leading scorer Kayla Alexander picked up two early fouls and was relegated to the bench. With her out, Syracuse struggled to find rebounds for second-chance points, something it has thrived on through its first two games.

 

But instead of relying on second-chances, SU started capitalizing on its first opportunities. Tyson-Thomas, who missed her first four shots, hit a quick three after a Blackbird turnover to put SU up 9-7 with 12:16 left in the first half. On the next Orange possession, Morrow dished the ball to the sophomore in the corner where she drained her second three in a row.

 

‘(Assistant) coach (Rick) Moody always tells me to keep shooting,’ said Tyson-Thomas, who matched Morrow’s team-leading 16 points. ‘Just shoot out of it. That’s the best thing you can do as a shooter is shoot out of the slump.’

 

Morrow said the back-to-back 3’s for Tyson-Thomas got the team going and she extended the run shortly after. After a Troya Berry steal, Morrow hit a transition three from the right corner. The next possession, she knocked down a shot from behind the arc with Blackbird guard Krystal Wells in her face, giving the Orange a 20-9 lead.

 

‘They were going underneath every screen,’ Hillsman said. ‘So she was really able to come off and get her feet together and shoot the ball. They went under every screen that we set so she got some pretty good looks at the basket.’

 

Long Island called a timeout after Morrow’s second three to try to cool off SU’s shooters, but it was to no avail. Senior guard Tasha Harris eventually got into the mix, hitting two back-to-back 3’s of her own late in the half to extend the Orange lead. By halftime, Syracuse turned a 1-for-10 performance into a 45-18 laugher.

 

Entering the game against the Blackbirds, SU was shooting just 25.5 percent from beyond the arc. But Monday night, with its leading scorer Alexander playing just four minutes in the first half, five different players knocked down 3s as the Orange put on a shooting show.

 

‘We just focus on taking good (shots),’ Hillsman said. ‘I thought they took good ones. As long as we have the right people taking good shots, then I think we have a good shot at making them.’

 

zjbrown@syr.edu