The first two minutes of the game had gone by, and all No. 24 Syracuse had to show for its four possessions was three turnovers and a charging foul. The team was showing signs of some rust after a week had passed since its last game.

Vaida Sipaviciute found the bottom of the net 15 seconds later, the first two points of 14 unanswered by the Orange to give it a 10-point lead. That run was just one of many that would propel SU to a dominant 80-52 win over St. John’s in front of 3,323 at the Carrier Dome.

‘It was more for us to just get us going,’ freshman Erica Morrow said. ‘We’re a momentum team, and teams are going to go on runs. Basketball is a game of runs.’

At the time of the first SU run, the team found itself down only four points. The deficit could have been much worse for the Orange as the Red Storm missed some easy shots to begin the game.

As a result of the run and the missed shots that usually fall, the run by Syracuse (16-3, 4-2) was even more demoralizing than just a 14-point swing.

‘It was very demoralizing because we missed easy shots,’ St. John’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico. ‘We should’ve been up 8-2 at one point. We missed three layups in the beginning of the game. If you can’t make plays like that, you’re not going to win many basketball games.’

At different points of Saturday’s contest, Syracuse used runs of 14-0, 8-2 and 11-2 to stay comfortably ahead of the Red Storm (10-9, 1-5).

Morrow and fellow freshman Marisa Gobuty sparked the runs. Morrow followed Sipaviciute’s shot, with a jumper of her own followed by a steal on the next possession that resulted in a breakaway layup. Morrow finished with 10 points and tallied six of SU’s first 14 points.

Just about seven minutes later, Gobuty scored her eight points in only a minute and thirty seconds, as part of an 11-2 Orange run.

In large part, the Syracuse streaks of the first half were created by the defense. SU went into the locker room with 16 fast-break points and 17 points off 12 turnovers by the Red Storm.

Still, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman was not thrilled with his team’s performance and demanded more intensity.

‘When we got in the locker room of course he spoke to us, a little yelling,’ Michael said. ‘He told us we better pick it up or else practice is not going to be a good practice, so he picked us up.’

Such were the Syracuse spurts, that St. John’s found itself hopelessly behind at the halfway mark of the first half. SU outscored the opponent, 17-6, to make it 35-18. Syracuse went into the locker room with an 18-point halftime advantage, 42-24.

‘We talk about on the bench just make sure that every four minutes we are winning, that’s what I look at,’ Hillsman said.

The second half the defensive intensity stayed the same, but sloppy play took over for both teams. Syracuse started the half well with a 6-0 run and continued with the theme midway through the half with a 9-2 run. After the game, Hillsman said he thought his team played better in the second half.

Turnovers and fouls prohibited any type of rhythm forming in the second half. The two teams combined for 21 personal fouls and 17 turnovers after the break.

‘It’s no question, I mean that happens,’ said Nicole Michael, who had a game-high 20 points. ‘We can have sloppy plays sometimes, but we just came back and kept working hard.’

The sloppiness though never found its way to the defense. The Red Storm shot 31 percent from the field for the game and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second half. SU closed out the second half allowing only two field goals in the last 5:20, one of which came with only 4.3 seconds remaining in the game with SU up, 80-50.

Despite the runs, Hillsman was more concerned with his team’s defensive play.

‘We can score the basketball, so that’s not a concern,’ Hillsman said. ‘Our concern is not giving up 80 points.’

Published on January 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm