Quentin Hillsman turned away from the court, exasperated, after Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi committed a foul. The Syracuse head coach mouthed “Come on, man,” turned to the bench, and without saying a word, pointed to Digna Strautmane.

Despite only sitting for a minute after starting the game, Strautmane popped off the bench and checked in. She immediately made an impact. First, with a block on Towson’s six-foot-four center. Then, two free throws. Then another block.

The sophomore out of Riga, Latvia, tallied 10 points, two offensive rebounds and the two blocks in the first quarter, helping No. 12 Syracuse (7-2) jump out to an early lead against the Tigers (3-4). After scoring in double-figures just once in the first eight games of the season, Strautmane broke out for a season-high 19 points as the Orange blew out Towson, 98-55.

“(Strautmane playing well) helps us a lot,” SU point guard Tiana Mangakahia said. “Her starting off the game strong, letting the game come to her was important.”

Strautmane was active on both sides of the ball early, forcing the Tigers into a turnover on the very first play of the game. She trapped Ryan Holder on the baseline and with nowhere to go, Holder stepped out of bounds.

On the next possession, Mangakahia found a streaking Strautmane on the left baseline, where the forward swished a mid-range jumper to get SU on the board.

“She was impressive off the catch,” Hillsman said. “She had a few stand-still 3s early in the game, and she took them with confidence.”

TJ Shaw | Staff Photographer

She diversified her looks at the basket throughout the game, starting with the mid-range jumper and following it up with a putback layup after an offensive rebound. Later in the first, Strautmane caught a pass from Emily Engstler before she dribbled toward the hoop and knocked down a floater.

A few minutes later she used her skills off the dribble again. She caught a pass at the 3-point line and moved to the elbow to convert another jumper. She began where she left off in the second quarter, draining her lone 3-pointer of the game to give her 13 points, matching a season-high. She credited her shooting to the ball movement that Syracuse developed against the Tigers early on.

“Good passes, we all played together,” Strautmane said. “It was just our game, how we play, it was just better, so then it just came naturally.”

Strautmane burst onto the scene last year as a freshman. She started all 31 games and averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds, even exploding for 25 points and five 3-pointers against Boston College. But this season, she’s struggled.

The jump that Syracuse expected from her still hasn’t come as a sophomore. Entering Sunday’s game, she was totaling 24.8 minutes a contest, four fewer than her average last season. Her point total has nearly halved at 5.5 points per game. In addition to her inconsistent shot, she’s struggled with foul trouble, which has limited her playing time, Hillsman said.

But against Towson, Strautmane looked like a different player. Instead of hesitating behind the arc, she took open shots with confidence or, when guarded, dribbled toward the paint to get a better look. She hadn’t taken a free throw in any of SU’s first eight games, but due to her aggressiveness on Sunday, she took six. She made all of them, and on top of that, didn’t commit a foul.

“Digna’s minutes have been down a little bit,” Hillsman said. “(If she) plays the way she played tonight, she can play a lot more minutes.”

Published on December 2, 2018 at 5:32 pm

Contact Eric: [email protected] | @esblack34