While Brittney Sykes was taking care of business on the offensive end, the Orange’s interior defense received a boost from Briana Day on Thursday night.

Although Syracuse (17-6, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) was sporting special white and pink jerseys on Play 4Kay Day, the freshman forward left Virginia Tech (11-11, 1-8 Atlantic Coast) seeing red. She grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and added six blocks to stymie the Hokie offense during the Orange’s 73-48 victory at the Carrier Dome.

In doing so, she treated the 506 fans in attendance to what she called one of her better games this season.

“The rebounding thing and the six blocks… and the fouls,” Day said. “That was good today to get fouled a lot, so I guess it’s one of the best.”

As a team, the Orange quickly asserted its dominance beneath the basket. Shakeya Leary began the game by outmuscling opposing center Monet Tellier for two quick rebounds. She then put SU on the board with a three-point play.

But it was at the 16:30 mark that Day entered the game and proceeded to steal the show.

The North Carolina native immediately snagged a rebound on her first defensive series, which led to an easy bucket for Sykes on the offensive end. She finished the first half with seven boards in all.

Her best sequence came with only four minutes remaining in the half. Virginia Tech’s Uju Ugoka tried to drive along the baseline, but Day was there to swat away both of her shot attempts. Cornelia Fondren was fouled in transition on the ensuing break, and her two shots at the charity stripe extended the SU lead to 18.

In total, Syracuse held the Hokies to only six points in the paint and three offensive rebounds through the first 20 minutes. It also forced Virginia Tech into 11 three-point attempts, most of which were contested.

Only one resulted in points.

Sykes said that head coach Quentin Hillsman had stressed the importance of defending those outside shots before the game. The success of Day and others around the cylinder made that task much easier.

“We have a good inside presence with the Day twins and Shakeya Leary and sometimes Taylor Ford if she plays at the five,” Sykes said. “For us to really defend down low and Briana Day having six blocks, it just shows that we do have an inside presence and we can take advantage of the inside and make them score from the outside.”

Even though the Orange sported a comfortable 21-point lead out of the break, it continued to cause chaos in the paint. Leary and Sykes coupled to force a Hokie turnover only one minute into the latter frame.

Seconds later, Day re-entered the game and continued to apply suffocating pressure in the paint. She quickly forced a jump ball and followed that with yet another rebound on the ensuing defensive sequence.

She also pitched in offensively, scoring two quick buckets en route to a final tally of nine points.

“Just trying to do what I can for my team and trying to keep my coach a little happy,” Day said. “That’s what it was. I’m just playing hard.”

Hillsman said that Day is a good anchor of the Orange’s zone, and it was great to see her have success in multiple areas.

But, most of all, at the rim.

“She attacks the offensive glass. She really rebounds the basketball.” Hillsman said. “If we can get half of that each way for her every night as a freshman, we’ll take it.”

Published on February 6, 2014 at 11:58 pm

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu