For Elashier Hall, one year has made all the difference.

A year ago, as a freshman, she was Quentin Hillsman’s first player off the bench and saw significant playing time. She showed flashes of her ability — scoring a season-high 11 points against No. 1 Connecticut in February. But the consistent production wasn’t there.

She averaged just 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. She failed to score more than two points in 16 of the Orange’s 36 contests. She reached double figures just twice.

This year, though, Hall seems to have put it all together.

‘I’m feeling a little more comfortable playing my game and being aggressive and being a good addition to the team,’ Hall said.

The higher expectations that come with being a full-time starter haven’t seemed to affect Hall so far. The guard is the second-leading scorer on the Orange (13-4, 1-3 Big East), and she leads the team in 3-point percentage. Her role as a scorer has expanded from one of instant offense off the bench to a consistent producer all game long. She’s becoming a leader for the Orange, and dating back to mid-December, she has been the team’s most steady performer.

Hall will look to continue her hot stretch when the Orange takes on Marquette in Milwaukee at 2 p.m. Saturday.

‘I’m not a rookie any more,’ Hall said. ‘There’s more expected of me. I’m just stepping up and doing the best I can.’

Despite her recent success, though, the sophomore guard started the year relatively slowly. She has started every game for the Orange thus far, but she wasn’t scoring as much as she or Hillsman would have liked. She struggled to get to the basket and, as a result, couldn’t create her own shot very effectively.

But that all changed in December with Syracuse’s trip to the Bahamas. In the team’s second game of the Sunshine Shootout against Clemson, Hall took a then career-high 13 shots that resulted in another career high of 16 points. The end result: The Orange ran away with a 77-58 win.

From that point on, Hall has been SU’s best player. She has averaged a team-leading 17.1 points and 7.1 rebounds through the last seven games, dating back to the matchup with the Tigers.

‘She’s scoring for us, she’s rebounding for us, she’s doing a lot of different things,’ senior guard Erica Morrow said. ‘She’s definitely an important part of our team. For her to be so young, she’s definitely emerging as one of the leaders on our team.’

For Hall, part of the difference in this stretch has been her willingness and, perhaps more importantly, her desire to take shots. Through the first eight games this year, she took 46 shots. In the last seven contests, she’s nearly doubled that total with 82. Much of that has come from a boost in confidence.

In SU’s loss to Rutgers on Jan. 11, the sophomore carried the Orange from the opening tip. She scored Syracuse’s first eight points, knocking down a corner 3-pointer, draining another long-range bucket in transition and finishing a contested putback on the baseline.

‘Everything that she’s doing on the floor, she’s doing very efficiently,’ Hillsman said. ‘So I’m very happy with what she’s doing, and I’m very proud of her effort.’

Although Hall has shined as of late, it hasn’t always correlated with a win for Syracuse as a team. The Orange is just 4-3 in its last seven games, including a 1-3 start in the Big East. The team as a whole has struggled offensively and is hitting a lowly 38.9 percent from the floor in conference play.

Though the rest of the team hasn’t necessarily been pulling its weight, Hall just wants to stay confident. She stressed the importance of staying confident in her own shot and continuing to flourish in her new role with the Orange.

Said Hall: ‘I’m definitely feeling good.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on January 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm