For Quentin Hillsman, there was one aspect of Syracuse’s game against Rutgers that made the difference between a win and a loss.

The Orange had been dominant from the inside for the majority of its non-conference schedule. Sophomore center Kayla Alexander led SU with 15 points per game through 15 contests. Points in the paint accounted for 46 percent of Syracuse’s offensive output.

But Tuesday, it was the Scarlet Knights that controlled the play underneath the basket. And that was enough to hand SU its third loss of the season.

‘I just thought that, obviously, we gave them too many points in the paint,’ said the SU head coach Hillsman. ‘And that’s not normally how we play.’

Rutgers sophomore center Monique Oliver scored a career-high 27 points and the Scarlet Knights (10-6, 3-0 Big East) jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead en route to a 78-67 win over the Orange in front of 1,031 fans at the Carrier Dome.

The Scarlet Knights pounded the ball inside, outscoring SU 36-20 in the paint and holding Alexander to just six points and six rebounds. That dominance inside gave Rutgers a comfortable halftime cushion, and the Orange (13-3, 1-2) was never able to claw its way back within striking distance.

‘We didn’t shoot well from the outside,’ RU head coach C. Vivian Stringer said. ‘But all the damage was on the inside. I thought that this team recognized it was working, and why go somewhere else?’

Sophomore Elashier Hall gave SU a spark to start the game, knocking down two 3-pointers to give the Orange a 6-0 lead less than 90 seconds in. But after that, it was all Rutgers in the first.

Oliver repeatedly found ways to get open on the offensive end. She either worked her way to the free-throw line for turnaround jumpers or cut to the basket for easy layups. The sophomore finished with 14 points in the first half while the rest of the team picked apart the SU zone. The Scarlet Knights finished with 12 assists on 17 field goals in the first half, repeatedly finding holes in the Orange defense.

‘I think we did that to ourselves,’ said Hall, who led Syracuse with 23 points. ‘We just have to be more aware of ourselves and just know personnel a little better.’

While Rutgers was capitalizing on their opportunities in the first half, SU struggled to manufacture points.

Oliver and forward Chelsey Lee denied multiple entry passes from Orange guards into the paint. SU’s Alexander didn’t take a shot in the first half and played just eight minutes with foul trouble. Fourteen Syracuse turnovers turned into 22 points for the Scarlet Knights. And by halftime, RU held a 22-6 advantage in points in the paint and led Syracuse 39-22.

Hillsman said the slow starts have been a problem for SU throughout his five seasons with the program. He added that his team has tried changing everything from pregame warm-ups to when the team eats its pregame meal, but nothing has worked.

‘I don’t know, it’s hard to explain,’ Hillsman said. ‘It really is. … We’ve done numerous things to be able to come out and play better at the start of games. We can’t dig holes against good teams because it’s tough to get back in.’

But the Orange did just that against Rutgers Tuesday. It clawed its way back with small runs throughout the second half but the Oliver and the Scarlet Knights never let SU get too close.

Senior guard Erica Morrow tried to put Syracuse on her back about midway through the second. She scored 10 of her 15 points in a five-minute stretch to help SU cut the lead down to 11. With 4:36 left, that lead shrunk to just eight.

But on the ensuing possession, Oliver got the ball with Alexander on her back on the right block. She powered her way to the middle of the paint and finished from right under the basket to put the lead back up to 10.

Rutgers never led by less than nine after that bucket and made enough free throws to pull out the 78-67 win.

‘They’re a good program,’ Hall said. ‘They have good sets. We just have to be a little stronger on defense and know where we need to go. … We just have to go back to the drawing board.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on January 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm