Terps Outlast Raiders, 80-76

Well it wasn't pretty, but we got the job done again. They love to give us all heart attacks before putting the game away. One game they will play defense for 40 minutes like they do when the game is on the line. The game had so much promise with a 15 point lead near the end of the first half, but then foul trouble (must be the year of the charge) resulted in different line ups and a ton of turnovers. As a result, MTSU got more confidence and took it to the Terps. We looked a little shocked, but when the game was close to getting out of reach the defense stepped up. The team gave up 10 points in a 2-minute span and then held MTSU to one bucket over the the final 5:14 of the game (the bucket at the buzzer doesn't count). One day teams will guard Toliver with the game on the line too. Kudos to brand new Associate Head Coach Jeff Walz for picking up I think his first career Technical.

Box Score | Game Recap

Positives

Marissa -- 19 and 15 and single-handily tried to take over the game, when the team was struggling. She filled up the box score,now she needs to fix the free throw shooting.

Langhorne -- another quiet 16 and 11 night missing only two shots in the process. Plus when they needed a big rebound and a bucket, she was in the right spot.

Team's resistence to lose -- champions don't lose games they should win and that's what they did last night.

Rebounding -- the team attacked the glass and controlled the boards.

Perimeter defense -- MTSU scored 28 points in the paint and shot 36.4% from the floor.

Negatives

Turnovers -- way too many again. It looked like we had never played against a press before. This game should have never been that close, even the box score indicates that, but we kept throwing the ball away for no reason.

Free throw shooting -- 72% is good, but we missed several key shots and that can't happen in close games.

Harper -- she played great when in the game, but she has to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble.

Composure -- I know the refs stunk and it was hurting the team, but they have to be ready to withstand runs. They gave up at least two of 10 points or more.

Articles

Washington Post

The Tennessean

Photos