From the opening tip, it was evident. Stephanie Blais didn’t even try jumping. The result of the jump ball — much like the result of the game — was predetermined.

Kayla Alexander and Syracuse were going to dominate.

“I’m blessed with height,” the 6-foot-4-inch Alexander said. “So I might as well use it.”

Alexander utilized her height advantage and finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds, powering the Orange (8-1) to a dominating 66-28 victory over Wagner (1-6) in front of 294 in the Carrier Dome. It was the fourth double-double of the season for the Syracuse center.

But Alexander’s big night wasn’t perfect.

After scoring SU’s first four points, Alexander missed her next two shots from the field. After a two-minute scoring drought, Alexander was in position to end the slump with a layup, but 6-foot-2-inch Seahawks forward Chanez Robinson bumped Alexander, forcing her into an awkward hook shot.

At the first media timeout, the Seahawks held a 5-4 advantage in an ugly game.

“I didn’t say a whole lot of anything; I said we need some energy,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “I think that that’s what it was. … It wasn’t a situation to where it was a panic, a situation I just think that we had to just get going.”

Alexander missed her first shot out of the timeout and capped her horrid stretch with a pair of missed free throws at the 13:55 mark as backup center Shakeya Leary sat at the scorer’s table.

“That was a rough, sloppy first half,” Alexander said. “But honestly, at that time, I’m just thinking, ‘OK Kayla, it’s in the past.’ Short memory. Because if you dwell on it it’s going to mess up your game.”

When she checked back in less than two minutes later, the early struggles were a distant memory.

Alexander finished a layup with 10:31 remaining in the first half, ending an 8:02 stretch without a field goal.

The center scored 17 points in the first half — as many as Wagner had as a team — but the Seahawks were still able to keep the center out of rhythm.

“Our bread and butter defensively has been our matchup, and our matchup zone creates a lot of issues inside usually because it creates automatic double, triple team,” Wagner head coach Lisa Cermignano said. “In the first half we did a pretty good job finding where she was.”

In the second half, though, Alexander put on a clinic.

Seemingly everything Alexander tried worked. Even the mishandled entry passes played out well.

Early in the second half Alexander found herself double-teamed. Brittney Sykes dumped the ball to her in the low post anyway. Alexander bobbled the pass, but she created separation and made the layup off the backboard.

On a normal day Alexander’s dominance would have set up the Orange shooters to have a big game. But on this particular night the shots just weren’t falling.

SU started 0-for-10 from beyond the arc and didn’t hit its first 3-pointer until Rachel Coffey knocked one down at the first-half buzzer. Syracuse finished the game just 3-for-20.

“It’s a big deal; it’s a big presence down there,” SU guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas said. “When we’re missing shots, we obviously depend on Kayla, dumping down low to Kayla.”

As the blowout was nearing its end, Alexander’s career-high point total was in sight. Alexander stepped to the free-throw line with 5:15 remaining needing to hit one to match her career high.

Leary once again sat at the scorer’s table ready to check in for what would be the last time of the night.

This time she didn’t have to wait long.

Alexander knocked down both free throws and walked to the bench, where she was greeted with hugs and high fives from her teammates.

“All of that goes to the great coaching staff and my teammates,” Alexander said. “My coaches worked with me a lot definitely since freshman year, and also my teammates always looking to get me the ball, having faith in me while I’m shooting it.”

Published on December 5, 2012 at 2:52 am

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