Syracuse teetered on a three-point lead. A nine-point advantages had slimmed, and with five minutes to play, Rutgers seemed poised to make its move.

Chandrea Jones grabbed a defensive rebound. Syracuse worked it around to junior forward Nicole Michael, who drilled a shot from long distance, sending the team into a frenzy. Suddenly, Syracuse was on solid ground and finished with a 19-8 run to seal the win over the No. 17 Scarlet Knights, 68-54, Tuesday at the Carrier Dome in front of 1,019 fans.

Michael lifted the Orange (12-3, 1-1) over Rutgers (8-4, 0-1) by amassing her best statistical night of the season – 15 points and 14 rebounds – and becoming the 18th Syracuse player to amass 1,000 points in her career.

Quietly tucked away in the corner of the media room following the game, the win seemed to hold more meaning for Michael. After realizing her accomplishment, she smiled, catching an encouraging glimpse from teammate Erica Morrow.

Since missing three games earlier in the year with a head injury, Michael has come back to score double-digits in seven of her last nine games. And, after a record-setting freshman year and a quiet second season, the junior forward seems to be back in her groove.

‘Well, we have 15 more games so hopefully I score more,’ Michael joked after the game. ‘But it’s a great feeling; my mom can call me now and say ‘Finally.”

Flanked by Morrow, who finished with 17 points, and Jones’ 16 points and nine rebounds, the Orange attack toppled the perennial Big East power.

‘Obviously, our kids played a masterful game,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘To beat a team like that who has been to final fours, and championship games with five or six All-Americans on the team, it’s just a huge win for us.’

Although the game was a struggle for both teams, Syracuse appeared to have the advantage early on with a huge surge to end the first half.

After falling victim to a 7-0 Rutgers run to start the game, the embattled Orange, coming off a difficult 80-73 loss to Georgetown days earlier, stood with a two-point advantage and three seconds remaining in the half.

Following a made basket by Rutgers, sophomore guard Tasha Harris took the inbounds pass and charged up the floor, settling on the left side of the key and nailed a key three-pointer as time expired.

‘Basketball is a game of runs,’ Morrow said. ‘Rutgers is a top-25 team. We expect them to make a run, but great teams make a run back and that is what we did. That is what kept us in the game.’

The shot erased what had been a dismal first half statistically for the Orange, which boasted a morbid 24.3 percent shooting percentage while hitting only 66 percent of its free throws.

However, what the Orange lacked from the field, they made up for with a stifling defense. In what was the tightest zone coverage the Orange played all season, the team rendered Rutgers star Epiphanny Prince to just nine first half points on 3-of-13 shooting.

The zone, in combination with various stretches of a box-and-one on Prince, took Rutgers out of their rhythm, forcing errant passes leading to 17 total turnovers.

‘(Prince) is a great player,’ Hillsman said. ‘She is probably one of the top three offensive players in the country. She is very fierce and she’ll just keep on attacking. We wanted to keep (her) reasonable. …I thought overall we executed our game plan to perfection.’

The game, although played with the Big East schedule in its infancy, meant two very different things for each of its participants.

For Rutgers, who blew a 20-point halftime advantage in a 55-51 loss to No. 7 Tennessee, the game sent them spiraling further into a disappointing season considering its pre-season accolades.

On the other hand, Syracuse was able to not only rebound from a loss in its Big East opener, but also vault itself into the rest of its schedule with a newfound confidence.

‘It’s a big win for our program,’ Hillsman said. ‘We’re not going to view this win as a do-all, be-all, but I’m not going to diminish what this win means for our program and our kids.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on January 6, 2009 at 12:00 pm