Iasia Hemingway knows the formula for success for her team. Syracuse must find a balance between its trademark post game and its perimeter attack.

It’s a formula Hemingway and her teammates are still searching for 13 games into the season. And though SU has shown little progress toward achieving that balance, the senior forward knows the young backcourt is capable of providing that scoring punch.

‘Knowing their capability to shoot on the perimeter, teams aren’t going to know where to play us when they’re shooting great,’ Hemingway said. ‘And I think that’s what makes us a great team when we have a threat on the inside and out.’

Syracuse (9-4, 0-1 Big East) has yet to put together a complete performance on offense, scuffling at times in its nonconference slate this season. The Orange will try to find a balance between its inside and outside games against Niagara (3-8) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. With Big East play set to pick back up in just five days, SU’s matchup with the Purple Eagles will be the first of its final two tune-ups before taking on tougher competition. The Orange lost its first taste of conference play against West Virginia on Dec. 7.

SU head coach Quentin Hillsman hasn’t lost sight of his team’s offensive deficiencies. He knows the Orange needs to get contributions from the perimeter if it hopes to make a run to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008.

But he also knows this year’s team can’t rely on its outside shooting to be the difference in games. After losing his top guard Erica Morrow to graduation, Hillsman expected growing pains this season.

‘We are committed to getting great guard play,’ Hillsman said. ‘And I came into this season as I said immediately with the expectation of knowing that we’re going to be in a different system and it’s going to take time and we got to be patient.

‘And I remain patient and I remain very, very comfortable with the way that we’re playing.’

Though Hillsman is content with Syracuse’s performance to this point, the Orange remains far from being the ‘great team’ Hemingway believes it can be.

The senior forward saw the Orange live up to that label at times last season. And when it did, the offense was clicking on all cylinders. With Morrow leading the way on the perimeter, SU jumped out to a 12-1 record and earned a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The signature win of the run came against No. 6 Ohio State. Morrow poured in 27 points and went 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Overall, SU shot 8-of-23 from 3-point range, a 34.8 percent clip that this year’s team has topped just once so far.

Through 13 games a year ago, SU connected on 72-of-244 3-pointers — a mediocre 29.5 shooting percentage. But that percentage has dipped to 23.4 percent this season, and it has proven costly in the Orange’s four losses.

The SU frontcourt of Hemingway and center Kayla Alexander has shouldered much of the scoring load as a result. But SU guard La’Shay Taft said the strong presence inside created good opportunities on the perimeter

‘A lot of people can hardly stop them, they’re really strong on the inside,’ Taft said. ‘Which opens up the outside and perimeter for us to get shots when people double down on the inside.’

Now, Taft and the rest of the guards just have to start knocking down the open shots.

And when they do, as Hemingway said, teams will have to pick their poison in defending the SU offense. Until the Orange shows that capability, opponents can continue to key on the inside.

The early-season struggles haven’t deterred Taft. The guard can’t explain the sudden drop in production from the outside, but said she is staying positive through her own shooting slump.

And she’s also remaining optimistic about the possibilities once the team finds that proven formula for success.

‘It makes it really dangerous because the inside is already dangerous and then with the outside in addition, that’s tough,’ Taft said. ‘That’s hard to defend. You don’t know which one to focus more on because the inside is strong and the outside is strong.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on December 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu