With one half of Syracuse’s frontcourt attack sidelined after picking up two early first-half fouls, it was up to the other half, forward Iasia Hemingway, to shoulder the scoring responsibilities.

And after SU center Kayla Alexander picked up her second foul just more than three minutes into the game, Hemingway did just that.

‘We played well as a unit,’ head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘Obviously when you have someone that goes out of the game that’s an integral part of what you do, it’s one of those things you just have to calm it down collectively, and I think that our team did that as a whole.’

The Orange’s leading scorer took over and turned in a career-best 33 points, including 15 points in the first half. Along with her scoring surge, Hemingway added eight rebounds to lead the Orange (12-5, 1-2 Big East) in a dominating 83-60 win over Pittsburgh (8-8, 0-3) in the Petersen Events Center on Saturday.

It was the most points SU has scored in conference play since the Orange defeated the Panthers 87-80 in overtime on Feb. 2, 2010. And behind Hemingway the Orange built an insurmountable lead.

But it did so in an unconventional way.

The senior forward led an assault from the free-throw line, where Syracuse scored a remarkable 34 points. Hemingway notched 15 points from the stripe as SU shot 89.5 percent, missing on just four attempts from the line.

‘I think that when you play in this conference and you’re playing against players that are physical when they guard you, you have to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket and be aggressive,’ Hillsman said. ‘We did a very good job of getting to the basket and playing aggressive.’

The Orange led for the majority of the first half, even with Alexander on the bench. Syracuse guard Elashier Hall also found a seat on the bench after injuring her knee five minutes into the first half. Hillsman said the injury isn’t serious.

Leading 20-10, SU appeared to be handling the absences well. But the Panthers then went on a 17-5 run to take a 27-25 lead, which turned out to be Pittsburgh’s lone lead of the game.

Hemingway then drained two free throws to tie the game, Carmen Tyson-Thomas hit two 3s on consecutive offensive possessions and SU’s lead ballooned to five. SU took a 41-34 lead into halftime.

Out of the break, Syracuse held the Panthers without a field goal for seven minutes, allowing it to go on a 14-4 run that saw the Orange take a commanding 19-point lead. Hemingway took control during the span and scored the final nine points of the run.

‘She did a really good job of just being physical and attacking the paint,’ Hillsman said. ‘I thought that overall with her attacking the paint that’s where her game is.’

And after a 27-turnover performance in a 55-44 loss to Rutgers, the Orange had an offensive turnaround in its first conference win of the season. Syracuse got to the free-throw line, took high-percentage shots that led to 40 percent shooting from the floor and caused six more turnovers than it committed.

In the end, Syracuse dominated the Panthers with two of its main threats sidelined for a majority of the game.

‘We did a very good job of taking care of the ball,’ Hillsman said. ‘I thought that was the most important thing. We were able to take care of the ball and get very good shots.’

adtredin@syr.edu 

Published on January 7, 2012 at 12:00 pm