Shakeya Leary caught the ball in the middle of the lane, turned to her right and threw a shot toward the basket. The ball met the rim before dropping softly through the net, extending Syracuse’s lead to seven midway through the second half.

As Leary jogged back on defense, the whistle blew, signaling a Providence timeout. But it did little to slow Leary and the Orange’s momentum.

The SU center added three straight field goals following the timeout, helping her team build a comfortable cushion over the Friars for the final nine minutes of play.

‘She’s a very good offensive player and she can really score the basketball,’ head coach Quentin Hillsman said in a phone interview. ‘So when we can get her the ball in a one-on-one situations, areas on the floor to where she can play close to the rim, she’s going to be a very effective basketball player for every possession.’

Leary’s dominant stretch in the paint keyed a decisive 17-0 run as Syracuse defeated Providence 57-47 in the first round of the Big East tournament at the XL Center on Friday. The No. 12 seed Orange (18-13, 6-10 Big East) established its inside game and used a 44.8 percent shooting performance in the second half to send the No. 13 Friars (13-17, 5-11) home with a loss.

SU advances to the second round to face the No. 5 seed West Virginia on Saturday at noon. The Orange lost its regular-season matchup with the Mountaineers 76-72 on Dec. 7, doomed by a 1-of-17 shooting performance from beyond the arc.

On Friday, SU attempted just six 3-pointers as it pounded the ball inside. Leary finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while Iasia Hemingway and Kayla Alexander each scored 15 to pace Syracuse.

For Hillsman, Syracuse just has to follow same game plan against WVU.

‘We have to do that all the time because that’s our game and we can’t adjust that for anybody,’ Hillsman said. ‘We got to get the ball in the paint, be strong, be aggressive and play physical and that’s what we’re going to do against West Virginia.’

Though Syracuse executed its game plan perfectly during that run, Hillsman said the team also rushed its offense and took some quick shots that allowed Providence to stay in the game.

After taking a seven-point lead early in the second half, the Orange failed to score during a four-minute stretch. Meanwhile Providence went on a six-point run to cut SU’s lead to 29-28 and seize the momentum.

Hillsman knew his team just needed to get back to its game plan and stay patient on offense.

‘I was just thinking just continue to get high-percentage shots and continue to play in the paint and that’s what we did,’ Hillsman said.

As Hillsman said, the Orange reestablished its presence inside and separated from the Friars for good.

Hemingway started the run for Syracuse with a layup and two free throws. Then Leary took over, nailing the turnaround in the paint to put SU up seven. She followed with a tip-in of her own miss on the right block and two more nifty turnarounds deep in the post to extend the Orange lead to 13.

Syracuse added five more points to take a commanding 18-point lead with less than nine minutes to play, and the Orange never let the Friars threaten that cushion down the stretch.

‘We just kept getting the ball in the paint and just kept getting high-percentage shots and that’s all we wanted to do,’ Hillsman said.

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on March 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu