Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman turned to the bench, sneered and pointed to the end. Tiana Mangakahia took one dribble inside the 3-point arc and threaded a bounce pass into the hands of starting center Amaya Finklea-Guity. Finklea-Guity tried to use her body to power through a North Carolina defender: One dribble, two. With her back turned away from the basket, the sophomore tried to get low, but the defender wouldn’t budge.

By the time she made her turn to the hoop, all Finklea-Guity’s strength was swept from beneath her, resulting in an off-balance shot that didn’t even touch the rim. For the first of many instances in SU’s 90-77 win over North Carolina, Hillsman scowled and looked for a replacement. It’s something Finklea-Guity has gotten accustomed to this season.

“The little things I wasn’t doing: taking charges, making sure that 44 wasn’t getting the ball so easily in the post. Little things like that,” Finklea-Guity said. “Offensively, just making sure that I finish.”

In her second year at SU, Finklea-Guity has settled into a smaller role in the Orange’s (14-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) center rotation. Upended by the addition of skilled French redshirt freshman forward Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, Finklea-Guity’s limited time exposed her uneven performance, evidenced by her play on Sunday against the Tar Heels. Between missed layups and botched defensive stops, Finklea-Guity further established the leaps SU has made in its frontcourt depth — highlighted by Djaldi-Tabdi, Digna Strautmane and Finklea-Guity.

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Last season, the Orange had no such luxury. SU’s thin depth chart caused it to get creative with its rotation. 6-foot-2 Strautmane spent some time in the middle and away from the wing where she excels as a shooter. SU even converted Raven Fox — who has hardly played (6.1 MPG in eight appearances) this season — to a small-ball center because of her aggression and physicality in the paint.

But this year, as the Orange tapped into the depth they raved about prior to the season, Finklea-Guity’s role has lessened. Despite starting every game, her minutes dipped from 24.6 as a freshman to 15.5 this year. Even with a slight scoring increase, the sophomore often plays behind her center-counterpart Djaldi-Tabdi.

Against the Tar Heels, Finklea-Guity was quickly pulled after her unsteady layup in the first quarter. Djaldi-Tabdi responded with two buckets in Finklea-Guity’s relief to give the Orange an inside presence while it hit a program-record 12 3-pointers in the first half. When Finklea-Guity encountered another blemish later in the half, Hillsman once again turned and pointed to his bench.

“(Djaldi-Tabdi)’s been a big help in trying to continue to be that aggression that we need in the post,” Finklea-Guity said. “I think it’s great that we have that now.”

But again in the first half, the Orange needed another replacement. As North Carolina defenders crept beyond the 3-point line and limited SU’s space up top, the Orange turned to the inside. But Djaldi-Tabdi picked up her third, fourth and fifth fouls, and the inverse relationship worked to the Orange’s advantage.

Finklea-Guity scored all eight of her points in the second half to revive a lead that dwindled as low as seven points. Djaldi-Tabdi said on Nov. 6 that the Orange’s biggest difficulty would be their “consistency” to keep with games. When Djaldi-Tabdi fell victim to foul trouble, Finklea-Guity was able to produce and prolong Syracuse’s paint scoring.

“When we kick it in, most of the time we score. Our post action is actually very good,” Mangakahia said. “It helped us, it (brought) more energy.”

By the end of the game, Hillsman’s early yelling was over. As Finklea-Guity backed into the rim for her first bucket, Hillsman pointed in the air, raised his fists above his head and cheered.

“It’s just overall continuing to push myself no matter what,” Finklea-Guity said. “Continue to work on what I work on, and everytime I go in, just try to be that aggressive post player that I need to be.”

Published on January 15, 2019 at 12:42 am

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary