Late in the first half of Wednesday night’s game, just seconds after Alexis Peterson snatched a steal and sliced through the open Michigan State lane for back-to-back layups, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman called her over to the bench. He relayed freshman Chelayne Bailey in to relieve the exhausted guard, who had played the entirety of the first half without substitution.

As Peterson walked back to the SU bench, she grabbed a water bottle from a student manager and took a long sip, breathing heavily as sweat rolled down her face. 10 seconds later, before Peterson even had the chance to sit down, Hillsman turned around and screamed her name.

He needed her back in the game.

Behind SU’s stifling first-half defense led by Peterson, No. 20 Syracuse (5-3) snapped its losing skid with a 75-64 victory over Michigan State (6-2), Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome. After suffering three losses last week, the Orange flipped the script on MSU, forcing the Spartans into 20 turnovers and 22 points in the first half, enough to build a large enough cushion to carry the Orange to victory in the second half.

Wednesday’s win was the Orange’s third win at home this season, and the program’s second victory all-time in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

With Peterson as the defense’s head-hunter, Syracuse consistently pressured the Spartans’ offense in the first half, extending its press past mid-court and forcing skip pass after skip pass across the MSU front court. Spartan head coach Suzy Merchant said that over the past two days, the Spartans ran against a practice squad of seven girls on defense in an effort to simulate the Orange zone.

“That’s a compliment to us,” Hillsman said regarding MSU’s preparation. “Teams will go seven on five, but it’s really hard to prepare for us.”

Eventually, the blistering pace of the SU zone combined with constant pressure rendered the Spartans’ preparation useless. By the three-minute mark in the second quarter, the Orange was ahead, 33-22.

After Peterson forced another turnover from Spartan guard Taryn McCutcheon, gliding to another layup behind the MSU offense, Tori Jankoska threw her hands up and shook her head.

“It’s disappointing how we handled (the press) in the first half,” Merchant said. “The second half was a lot better, but it was too late. We just didn’t handle it well.”

Peterson accounted for four first-half steals while she spearheaded the Orange defense, all but silencing the Spartan’s offense in the first half. The Orange ended the half on an 11-0 run and up 18 at the break.

MSU pulled within nine late in the second half, after Jankoska broke the Orange press on back-to-back full court lob passes. But with the lead SU had built up earlier, the Spartan comeback failed. Peterson iced the game with two straight buckets and two foul shots in the final two minutes.

“The offseason prepared me for games like this, where I might only get 10 seconds of rest, then I have to go right back in,” Peterson said. “We wanted to really get after them on defense; that’s what we’re good at, and that’s what we’re known for.”

With 11.8 seconds left in the game and the Orange up 75-62, Hillsman called Peterson back to the bench, after the senior had played 38 minutes as a crucial part in the Orange’s deadly defense.

“This was a bounce-back game, we definitely had to have this game,” Hillsman said. “Our kids really came out with a lot of effort, came out with a lot of intensity, and that was what we were missing (last week).

Peterson high-fived her teammates as she grabbed a towel and sat down a few seats over from the coaching staff, wiping down her sweat-covered face and grabbing another water bottle. This time, as the final 10 seconds drained off the clock, she stayed.

Published on November 30, 2016 at 11:11 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu