Defense Leads to Season Opening Win

Sunday, November 16

Syracuse, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Syracuse University

1-0

Fordham

0-2

Fordham

Syracuse

11/16/2014 3:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Syracuse holds Fordham to 29-percent shooting and causes 22 turnovers in win

Behind a career-high 19 points from sophomore guard Alexis Peterson, the Syracuse women's basketball team opened its season with a 59-42 win over Fordham (0-2) on Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

With the Orange trailing by three with less than one minute remaining in the first half, Peterson hit a pair of jumpers to take a 22-21 lead into the locker room. 'Cuse maintained the momentum after the break, opening the second half on a 10-2 run fueled by the defensive efforts of Peterson and teammate Cornelia Fonden, who finished with a team-high three assists and two steals to go with eight points of her own.

Links: Highlights | Coach Hillsman Press Conference | Student-Athletes Press Conference

Syracuse pulled away from there as Fordham would never cut the lead to less than five the rest of the way.

"It was all about getting our pressure set," said head coach Quentin Hillsman. "It's tough to get your pressure set when you're not making shots. We didn't make shots in the first half so we couldn't get into our press. That really hurt us. That's a big part of what we do is setting our pressure up and then you've got to turn people over.

"Overall I thought Fordham played a tremendous game. They're a good basketball team, Stephanie does a very good job of recruiting players and they always have great talent. They played a great game, I give them a lot of credit. I just thought the second half we really got our pace and got our tempo going, we got up and down the floor, we got some easier shots. When you get shots you can get your defense set and get your press set. Overall just really happy with the win and not that it was clean enough, we were four for twenty from the three-point line, ten for twenty-two from the foul line, we really need a ton of points on the board there so we've got to take some opportunities and make some plays."

Syracuse outscored the Rams 37-21 in the second half, with 11 of those points coming off Fordham turnovers. 'Cuse forced 22 turnovers in the game.

The Orange opened things up with Taylor Ford knocking down the first points of the season for Syracuse in the form of a three. Ford finished with 11 points and went 3-of-6 from behind the arc.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, with Syracuse shooting 33-percent and Fordham at 29-percent and each team making 12 turnovers.

The Orange rebounded to shoot 46-percent for the second half, but with the increased defensive pressure, SU kept the Rams 29-percent for the game.

In addition to the strong pressure from the guards, the Syracuse front court held strong around the rim, with Bria Day swatting a career-high three shots. Amber Witherspoon and Brianna Day each added a block as well.

'Cuse also showcased its depth, with 11 players seeing the floor, nine of which played more than 10 minutes, and eight different players finding the scoring column. In addition to Ford's 11, the Orange also got seven bench points from Diamond Henderson.

The Orange will now hit the road to start a four-game stretch away from the Carrier Dome at Duquesne on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.