Even when the odds were stacked against Syracuse – like a 14-inch disadvantage down low – the Orange defense came through.

Georgetown had the lead for 15 minutes until Erica Morrow hit a miracle 3-pointer. But the Hoyas had dominated the paint the entire night, and with 18 seconds left in the game, had 6-foot-5 GU center Aminata Diop matched up against 5-foot-3 SU guard Cintia Johnson.

‘One thing I will say about Cintia (Johnson) she’s going to get into your legs,’ head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘I knew if she would stay in her legs we would have a chance, and she did. Cintia stayed physical. Cintia actually kept her out of the lane.’

SU couldn’t keep anyone out of the lane for the first 35 minutes of the game. But after Diop made a jumper in the paint with 5:15 remaining in the game, to give Georgetown its 34th point in the paint in 35 minutes of play, the trend changed.

Diop wouldn’t get the ball on the last possession, and neither she nor her teammates would score another basket from close range because of an increased intensity on defense by Syracuse. In fact, it was the last field goal Georgetown would make, as Jaleesa Butler missed a desperation heave as time expired.

Diop’s last score in the paint not only was the 34th point of the game for the Hoyas, but through 15 minutes it was the 20th in the second half. At the time, the Orange had 22 total points in the paint the entire game.

‘I thought one thing they did a really good job of was planting themselves on the block,’ Hillsman said. ‘And they got a lot of stuff inside that I thought was contested. … Offensively you know they are going to make some plays in the paint, and they did.’

Georgetown head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy credited the interior success with her team making outside shots. Williams-Flournoy said against the Syracuse 2-3 zone, once you make outside shots, the zone extends, and the defense might be less preoccupied with the post presence.

The Hoyas executed this offensive strategy perfectly in the first half, shooting a marginal 35.7 percent from beyond the arc. The key number, more important than actual percentage, was the number of shots. Georgetown shot 14 3’s in the first half.

That number was cut down to only four in the second half by a Syracuse defense that closed out the Hoya shooters much better than before.

‘I thought we did a really good job executing our offense,’ Williams-Flournoy said. ‘We had shooters that were hitting shots, and they had to come out and defend the shooter and we were able to get the ball inside. We scored inside for pretty much most of first half and some of the second half.’

Some of the time just wasn’t good enough for the Hoyas. As the final five minutes of play ticked away and without an inside game, Georgetown could only muster three points.

Even after holding a team to only three free throws in the final five minutes of play, Nicole Michael couldn’t find a reason to credit the defensive lockdown.

‘I mean, we changed the defense a little bit, but it wasn’t much of an adjustment,’ Michael said.

The three points down the stretch could be credited to the Orange’s defense mixed with Georgetown’s philosophy down the stretch. Williams-Flournoy said the Orange’s defense was not only closing out on shooters but post players as well. Because of this, her team resorted to taking more shots further away from the basket, which resulted in lower-percentage looks at the basket.

It’s perhaps the reason why with a one point lead and a 5-foot-3 guard on a 6-foot-5 center, Hillsman never even considered calling to his team for a switch.

‘I knew they wouldn’t throw it to her,’ Hillsman said. ‘I just knew they wouldn’t throw it to her because they were going to try to go to one of their main players.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on February 26, 2008 at 12:00 pm