<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0uHnAj_1GtRybTr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0uHnAj_1GtRybTr00" width="810" height="540" ><figcaption>Syracuse limited Cornell to two second-quarter points, its fewest conceded in a frame ever. The defense guided SU to an 80-48 home win. Tara Deluca | Photo Editor</figcaption></figure>Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here.When Felisha Legette-Jack and her staff coach their players on defense, she poses a scenario.She invites someone to her house and asks them to sit in her living room. If the person heads upstairs, they’ve crossed a line. When that happens, someone should step in cautiously. She urges that same caution for Syracuse defenders if an opponent tries to pass them.But there’s a catch. She said it’s disrespectful to think about how many times someone gets shut down like that. When it happens so frequently, she argues it’s not fair to the opponent. So, nobody on SU’s sideline cared about it blanking Cornell for six minutes and 56 seconds in the first quarter Sunday.Even when Syracuse (2-0, Atlantic Coast) held Cornell (1-2, Ivy) to two second-quarter points, its fewest conceded in a frame in program history, in an 80-48 home win, it again didn’t cross Legette-Jack’s mind. The Big Red had their second 1-for-10 stretch of the game in that quarter and missed their five 3-point attempts. The Orange capitalized with five steals and routed Cornell 21-2 in the quarter, irrevocably sealing the result by halftime.“We had to adjust in defense from the last game,” Emely Rodriguez said, even after a 27-point win over Sacred Heart. “It was just the mentality that we’re going to punch first, and we’re going to be strong defensively.”SU’s offense seemed to punch first, to an extent, with 21 first-quarter points. That included a 3-for-4 3-point mark, a far cry from Tuesday’s measly 5-for-25 mark.But punching first can happen in different ways, not always scoring points, copiously and early. It can be about defense, which set the tone for the Big Red’s second quarter.Cornell had its first 1-for-10 field-goal stretch in the opening quarter, driven by Sarah Rambus’ two rejections. Plays like the final one in the first, when Olivia Schmitt and Jaleesa Molina doubled Kelsey Langston to run out the clock, also set some groundwork. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3fjEJQ_1GtRybTr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3fjEJQ_1GtRybTr00" width="1280" height="853" ></figure>“We try to focus on who we are and what we’re trying to do,” Legette-Jack said of her defensive intent. “We try to work on our full-court zone press.”Still, when the Big Red scored seven points in 58 seconds, it seemed highly unlikely a similar defensive stretch could occur.But lo and behold, Cornell’s first second-quarter basket eight minutes and 12 seconds in. By then, Syracuse led 36-12, and the result was all but secured at halftime.“We’re going to be on the shots,” said Rodriguez, who contributed a game-high three steals. “We’re going to always try to press and try to get the steal and try to get it going.”While forcing missed shots was commonplace during the second quarter, steals also triggered instant offense. Schmitt stripped Langston 11 seconds into the second quarter. Less than a minute later, Angelica Velez pickpocketed Rachel Kaus. Then, she stumped Langston about two minutes into second-quarter play. Velez capitalized on the opposite end with a nifty layup.“This is a team that really speeds you up, puts a lot of pressure on defensively,” Cornell head coach Emily Garner said. “We knew coming into this game that was going to be a tough challenge. They really challenged us and exposed a lot of our weaknesses.”Keira Scott stole the ball from Rhylin Fehrenbach with about five and a half minutes remaining in the second. She flipped it to Shy Hawkins, who located Rodriguez for a 3-pointer to build a 32-10 lead. With under three minutes left, Scott swiped Katie Leonard, drew a foul and sank free throws.It caught Garner off guard. The Big Red had seen stark contrasts of defenses this year, and Thursday’s 69-point victory over Division III Fredonia presented the antithesis of a Syracuse matchup.“We struggled with the pressure a bit,” Garner said. “We had open looks that I felt we rushed. They do such a good job defensively that they just sped up just enough that you can’t quite get your shots off cleanly.”Cornell frequently passed up open looks and struggled to get shots off. The Big Red recorded their first second-quarter field-goal attempt 90 seconds in and forced a pair of 3-pointers in an eight-second span about three minutes into the second frame. Rambus even turned Clarke Jackson’s 3-point attempt into SU points.It didn’t matter if the Big Red cleaned up their misses with offensive rebounds, as they did with about 4:20 left in the second. Paige Engels clanked a triple, and Brooke Nunnally-Gardner dinked a shot off the rim shortly after.Jackson missed a pair of free throws, and Langston and Simone Richmond then missed shots. Garner admitted it was on the “coaches to get them ready” for the Orange, and they didn’t.While Garner was aware SU’s defense limited her squad for so long, Legette-Jack didn’t peer at the scoreboard. Not even Kaus cutting Syracuse’s lead to 36-12 — with under two minutes left in the second for Cornell’s first second-quarter make — made her think about how long it’d been since the Big Red scored. The game was already out of reach, and the Orange increased the gap to 32 at the final buzzer.Such scores explain Legette-Jack’s defensive idioms. There’s no reason anyone should want someone they just met wandering upstairs in their house. Cornell experienced it firsthand.“We want to play defense, and I enjoy playing defense,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like it gets everybody going.”</div></body>

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Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here. When Felisha Legette-Jack and her staff coach their players on defense, she poses a scenario. She invites someone to her house and asks them to sit in her living room. If the person heads upstairs,...

SU concedes 2 2nd-quarter points, fewest in program history, vs. Cornell

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Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here. When Felisha Legette-Jack and her staff coach their players o

SU concedes 2 2nd-quarter points, fewest in program history, vs. Cornell

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