HARTFORD, Conn. — From the early going, it was apparent Iasia Hemingway would be the person keeping Syracuse afloat in the first half.

After five consecutive SU misses to start the game and a quick four-point deficit to Big East bottom-feeder Seton Hall, the junior with more big game experience than anyone stepped into a leading role. After Kayla Alexander missed a layup, Hemingway ripped down a rebound and wiggled her way to the foul line.

She made a free throw — putting Syracuse on the board after a 2:28 drought to start the game — but that was just the start of her performance.

Hemingway scored nine of the Orange’s first 15 points, single-handedly carrying Syracuse out of a poor start offensively. Her 17 points led Syracuse (22-8, 9-7 Big East) to what became a 74-44 blowout victory over the Pirates (8-22, 1-15) in the opening round of the Big East tournament Friday at the XL Center.

In front of a crowd of 7,923, the guard carried the scoring load in the first half as Seton Hall’s (8-22, 1-15 Big East) defense clamped down on Alexander on the low block. Her 12 first-half points helped the rest of her team find its legs as SU went into the halftime locker room with a 33-24 lead.

Syracuse advances to the second round, where it will face 8th-seeded Georgetown (21-9, 9-7) at noon Saturday.

‘Throwing the ball inside for us is big and Iasia played a tremendous game,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘And she’s been stepping up big for us since the first day she started playing for us.’

Much of Hemingway’s first-half success came from a place where she has thrived all season — the high post. After scoring Syracuse’s first point, Hemingway got the ball on SU’s next possession at the left side of the free-throw line.

A pump fake and drive to the hoop later, Hemingway found herself at the free-throw line again, sinking two shots to close Syracuse’s gap to one.

She made the same move again to give SU its first lead of the game. Her two free throws that time made the score 7-6.

‘Erica (Morrow) tells me a lot, ‘Iasia, you’re strong at going to the basket, that’s your bread and butter, so attack,” Hemingway said. ‘I just listened to my leader and I kept attacking the rim.’

Seton Hall head coach Anne Donovan said the team’s defensive game plan focused on trapping Alexander, to keep the All-Big East first-team selection in check. But clamping down on Alexander only opened things up more for Hemingway.

When Hemingway gets the ball at the high post, one of her first looks is almost always on the low post to the center. But if Alexander is hounded by defenders, it more than likely gives Hemingway some room to make a move.

With the score deadlocked at 11-11, she did just that. Two defenders were in the paint, draped around Alexander. So when Hemingway got the ball at the top of the key, she drove into the paint, making a short jumper to give SU another lead.

‘Iasia made solid decisions,’ Hillsman said. ‘I told her to make solid, quick decisions in the high post. Seton Hall is such a very good basketball team off the ball on defense and I knew that if she made quick decisions it would give them less time to react and we (could) just go down in the post.’

After scoring those nine early points to help Syracuse out of its slumber, she scored just one basket in the rest of the half. But what a special basket it was.

Syracuse was up 25-20 later in the first half, and threatening to build a comfortable lead against the Pirates for the first time. After a scramble for a loose ball, the ball ended up in Carmen Tyson-Thomas’ hands in the left corner. Syracuse quickly swung the ball around the arc into Hemingway’s hands on the right wing, and she was open for 3.

Hemingway was 0-for-2 on the season from long range. She turned it into 1-for-3. And her first 3 of the season gave Syracuse its largest lead of the game, helping the Orange pull away from there.

Said Hemingway: ‘I was just feeling good.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on March 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr