At 11:15 Sunday morning, almost two hours before tipoff of Syracuse’s eventual 93-54 win over Niagara, Lynnae Lampkins was already out on the court with a good sweat going.

The only people in the stands were employees. The Purple Eagles were just coming off the team bus, meandering around the bowels of the Carrier Dome in warm-up shirts and sweatpants. If any of the Orange players were in the building, they were in the locker room, nowhere to be seen.

Yet there was Lampkins in her full uniform, hoisting up 3’s from around the arc, busting around pretend screens set by head coach Quentin Hillsman and trying to pick up any nugget of wisdom she could before playing with Syracuse for the first time.

For her sake, she better be a quick learner.

Lampkins, one of SU’s prized recruits for this season, played the first game of her collegiate career Sunday, earning her academic eligibility in time for one practice with the Orange. She immediately stepped into the backup point guard role and could fill the hole left by Cintia Johnson, who left the team after announcing in October that she is pregnant.

Lampkins played 18 minutes and led the team with six assists, often running fast breaks while starter was Tasha Harris on the bench. She did not score, missing all seven shots she took, including five 3’s.

In his postgame press conference, Hillsman didn’t even wait for a question to start praising his newest player.

‘Lynnae makes us a better team,’ Hillsman said to begin his opening statement. ‘She makes us faster. She makes us more athletic. I think that’s one thing we missed with Cintia, having someone who is very quick and athletic who can get the ball from point A to point B.’

Early returns on Lampkins suggest she should certainly help in that department. Despite working on only a handful of plays in practice Saturday and not taking a single possession in Syracuse’s zone defense, Lampkins showed great speed and looked mostly comfortable on the floor.

With Lampkins running the point, the Orange did not call sets in its half-court offense, relying on Lampkins to make decisions and find open players. On defense, Hillsman initially switched to a box-and-1, not wanting to expose Lampkins in his base zone, but allowed her to work in the 2-3 down the stretch without knowing the rotations.

Where Lampkins excelled was the fast break. For the last several months, Lampkins said she has worked out and ran with her father every day to stay in shape.

And it showed. While running the break, Lampkins was able to push the tempo and consistently feed her teammates on the run for easy lay-ups.

‘We might need to check our team’s conditioning,’ Hillsman said ‘She came in and had us playing a lot faster than we played all year. Maybe we have to get in better shape.’

The next step for Lampkins is establishing her shooting touch. Lampkins struggled Sunday, missing several open shots and seemed unable to create a rhythm. At one point, she took a wild shot in penetration from virtually behind the backboard that missed everything.

Afterward, she admitted her nerves may have played a part in her poor shooting but was happy overall with her Orange debut.

‘I just wanted to go out and play,’ Lampkins said. ‘I didn’t want to turn the ball over too much.’

Hillsman said he expects Lampkins to complement Harris at point guard the rest of the season, giving Syracuse extra depth at the position. With Chanieka Williams recovering from tendonitis, Harris has been the only true point guard available.

Lampkins changes that. Though she lacks Harris’ experience, Lampkins brings a quickness and explosiveness Harris does not possess. Her speed and athleticism impressed her coach and teammates the most and is what earned her a spot in the rotation after a single practice.

‘Lynnae is a really good player,’ forward Juanita Ward said. ‘She pushed the offense made everything much better. She’s talented. She’s very quick and made us run the floor in transition.’

Leary still not eligible, will redshirtWith the fall semester over, Hillsman addressed the status of one of his other top recruits: forward Shakeya Leary.

Without discussing specifics, Hillsman said Leary is still not eligible but is ‘very close.’ He expects her to earn her eligibility before the end of the season and officially enroll during the spring semester, but plans to redshirt Leary regardless of when she arrives.

‘Playing the post is difficult,’ Hillsman said. ‘Getting up and down the floor and doing the things we do in our zone as the 5 is very hard to do, so we planned on redshirting her anyway. We just miss her more on campus.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on December 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm