Langhorne Leads Terps to Victory, 76-60

Thanks to the great people at ComcastSportsNet and the fine people that work for Boston College I have no idea what happened in this game aside from the game story.

The win gives us the three seed and sets off "Revenge Weekend" for the Terps at the ACC Tournament as we may get to play each of the teams that beat us during the regular season.

If I get to see a boxscore, I will update this later. Now it's time to get ready for the postseason aka "Back for Seconds"

Game 30: at Boston College

Back to Boston. Our last trip to Boston was quite successful if I remember correctly. Our first trip there provided a little foreshadowing. I am hoping today's trip is equally successful. Right now we are playing for the 3 seed and a day off until Friday. We played BC in game 25 and beat them handily 71-39. I expect the same thing to happen tomorrow, unless this team isn't over the Duke loss yet.

The Game is on ComcastSportsNet here after a 30 minute delay because of a hockey game.


Boston College

Record: 13-14, 3-10 (ACC), 10-5 (Home)

Most points allowed: 83

Fewest points scored: 39

Team Information - Team Stats

Averaging 60.3 ppg, while allowing 59.7 ppg

Outrebounding opponents 37.3 - 34.6

Have turned the ball over 504 times, while opponents have only turned it over 390.

Shoot 76.1 percent from the line.

Only 41 blocks on the season, with 21 coming from one player.

Averaging only 5 steals per game.

Defensive minded team that will slow down the pace of the game. Holding opponents to .387 from the floor and .294 from 3.

Still play a Big East style of basketball ball, where it goes into the post first and then out to the shooters.

Relatively short team with only two players over 6'2.

They are offensively challenged. They have scored more than 70 only once and over 60 four times in the ACC.

Players to Watch - Roster

Katherin Ress. 6'4 center who is the focus of their offense. Has taken a bulk of their shots and is not afraid to shoot the 3 if left open. Also the team's main rebounder and shot blocker. Turnover prone and foul prone. Should be attacked at every chance we get. If the first game she picked up two quick fouls and was basically helpless the rest of the game.

Ayla Brown. She has started to come on as the season has progressed and is now more of a low post threat then Ress. Will shoot the 3, but more of an inside player.

Kindyll Dorsey. the team's main shooting threat. She has taken 220 shots, 145 of which have been 3s. Not much of a driver and doesn't really attack the glass.

Sarah Marhsall. 5'8 point guard, who looks to pass first. Likes to drive and create her own shot inside the paint as she has only taken 2 three-pointers all year. Averaging nearly 35 minutes per game.

Mickel Picco. smallish guard who has now become a starter. scored 13 against us with a variety of shots. doesn't do much but shoot.

Elisabeth Egnell. a 6'1 forward who plays the 3 as she will shoot from behind the arc as well as in the paint. Third on the team in rebounding and in steals. Not a great free throw shooter and doesn't get into foul trouble so either she is a great defender who avoids contact or doesn't play that much D. Has seen her playing time diminish over the course of the year.


Keys to the Game

Attack, attack again and attack one last time. No more slow down offense. Take the ball and run. I want to see us score over 80 again, something we haven't done in a while.

Passion. It's time for the team to decide that losing is over for the season and today begins a stretch of 10 consecutive wins.

Rebounding. We didn't do a good job against Duke and I expect to see something different.

Newman and Sa'de resume driving to the hoop. this is the perfect team for it.

Take care of the ball.

40 minutes of playing hard.

ACC Tournament Seeding Possibilities

Most teams only have only 1 game left and the race for seeding is still mostly wide open. Below are the scenarios for each team.

**UPDATED 2/24**

Duke (13-0)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday versus UNC

Has clinched the #1 seed

Plays the winner of #5 vs. #12 on Friday, March 2.

UNC (11-2)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday at Duke

Has clinced the #2 seed

Plays the winner of #6 vs. #11 on Friday, March 3.

Maryland (9-4)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday at BC

Can clinch the three seed with a win.

With a loss and a loss by FSU #5 seed

With a loss and wins by both NC State and FSU: #6 seed

NC State (10-4)

Clinch at least the four seed with a win.

With a MD loss: #3 seed

FSU (9-4)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday at Wake Forest

Clinch at least the five seed with a win.

With a win and loss by MD: #4 seed

With a loss and loss by MD: #6 seed

Georgia Tech (9-5)

ACC Season complete.

Can finish no worse than the six seed

With losses by MD and FSU: #4 seed

With losses by MD: #5 seed

With a loss by FSU: #6 seed

Virginia Tech (6-8)

ACC Season complete

Clinched seventh seed.

Will play the #10 seed on Thursday

Virginia (4-9)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday at Clemson

Clinches at least an 8 seed with a win

With a loss and one win by BC: #9 seed

Clemson (4-9)
Remaining Opponents: Sunday vs. Virginia

Clinches at least an 8 seed with a win.

With a loss and one win by BC: #8 seed

Boston College (3-10)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday versus Maryland

Clinched at least the #10 seed

With a win and a loss by Clemson: #9 seed

With a win and a loss by Virginia: #10 seed

Miami (2-12)

ACC Season complete

Have clinched the #11 seed

Will play the #6 seed on Thursday

Wake Forest (0-13)
Remaining Opponent: Sunday versus Florida State

Have clinched the #12 seed.

Will play the #5 seed on Thursday

ACC Tournament
Thursday schedule

#5 vs. Wake Forest

#8 vs. #9

VT vs. #10

#6 vs. Miami
Friday Schedule

#4 vs. #5/12 winner

Duke vs. #8/9 winner

UNC vs. #7/10 winner

#3 vs. #6/11 winner
Saturday Schedule

#4/5/12 winner vs. #1/8/9 winner

#2/7/10 winner vs. #3/6/11 winner
Sunday Schedule

#1/4/5/8/9/12 winner vs. #2/3/6/7/10/11 winner

What's Wrong With the Terps?

I am going to save the seeding breakdown until tomorrow as several of the teams play tonight and it will clear up a cloudy picture. Right now, a win gives us the 3 seed, a loss puts us anywhere from 4-6.

Now back to this question of the last week/month: What's wrong with the Terps? How does a team that returned almost everyone from last year and added a high-profile transfer continue to lose?

1. The team is too unselfish. This team is so close that I think several of them are afraid to take over games. Case in point, Langhorne and Coleman waited until the second half to impose their will on Duke when they should have went into the game with the mindset we aren't losing to them at home. Instead they passed up shots or fought for rebounds. In big games, the two best players have to be ready to go. Harding made 9-of-10 in the first half on the road - nuff said.

2. The aggressiveness is gone. Last year, the team wanted to prove the doubters wrong and played with a chip on their shoulder. Now the offense is set a pick at the top, look for the open shot, sometimes pass to Crystal and hope she scores. How many times have we seen Harper score on the first couple of possessions and then disappear for the rest of the game? When was the last time Ashleigh attacked the basket? Why does Sa'de only drive twice per game? Half the team doesn't attack the glass as well.

3. Confidence appears to be shot. All those early season blowouts made us seem invinceable and now the team pouts and puts its head down when things don't go its way. Crappy foul calls affect our mood and take us out of our game.

4. Lack of close games. Last year, the team built confidence in each of the close games it won. Overtime became ourtime because the ladies were determined not too lose. Now I don't know what would happen if we went to overtime. We either blow teams out in the first half or fall to far behind that we can't catch up. The lack of close games also hurt the conditioning as players go for 20 minutes and then rest.

5. Just not getting the bounces. Last year we got a ton of fortunate bounces and this year they just don't seem going our way. Things tend to balance themselves out. Then again, this isn't a reason to explain the loses.

Solutions
1. It's time to reestablish Langhorne. I don't care if she takes 20 shots and only makes 10 (that's still 20 points), but she needs to be given the ball early and often and told "take the ball to the hole, no matter how many people guard you". She needs to be more dominant down there.
2. Langhorne and Coleman need to take leadership roles and not worry about hurting people's feelings. They are the two best players on the team and it's time for them to prove it.
3. More attacking the basket. There should be a rule for the guards, that prohibits them from shooting a three unless wide open. They should be forced to try and shoot more interior jumpers as well as lay ups. Same goes for Harper. No one ever fouls out against us.
4. Stop with the pity party. No one feels sorry that you won the national title last year, heck they hate you even more this year.
5. More aggressive defense. Our steal totals are so low, that some players have more steals than our entire team. We don't jump the passing lanes, nor do we stick our hands out to deflect passes. Steals = transition opportunities which translate into easy buckets.
6. Bring back the speed game. When did we become Princeton men's basketball with this grind it out style? We need to grab the ball and go right for the hoop. Draw the coverage in and then dish for the easy basket.

Wednesday's Words

The polls are out and somehow we moved up a spot in the latest coaches rankings.

Charlie Creme has updated his bracket. Still a two seed in the Fresno Bracket, with a match up against UConn possibly.

Jerry Palm updated his bracket.

One-time Maryland lean Chay Shegog has chosen North Carolina over Maryland and then promptly went out and twisted her ankle and played her worst game in a while. Could it be her mind was elsewhere? Maybe regretting her decision?

The latest updates from Under the Shell are below.

Episode #6

Virginia Tech Highlights

Virginia Highlights

Check back tomorrow as I break down the remaining seeding opportunities.

Harding Leads Duke past Terps Again, 69-57

Well it was the same old story on Sunday night at the Comcast Center. Another home game with a large crowd, another loss. Duke again sweeps the season series and locks up the 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. With the loss, we can't finish any higher than third place and will most likely be a two seed in the tournament. The Terps can still be the six seed in the ACC Tournament with a loss to BC next week.

While I am disappointed in the loss, we have shown improvement since the last time. To paraphrase Shay "I would rather lose now if it meant we would win the National Championship later"

Positives

Langhorne. After a slow first half, where she didn't recognize the single coverage on her, she took over in the second half scoring 13 points to finish with 15 and 12 rebounds. Her third straight double-double. She looked like the freshman year Langhorne out there. Now if we can get her to work on her free throws.

Defense. I thought the defense was improved since the Duke and Carolina games. You can't help it if Harding makes 9 of her first 10 shots, and she shoots many of them from the perimete. It's not like she was left wide open. Also I think we containted penetration. Duke was forced to take many shots from the top of the key. Lastly, Waner and Smith combined for 7 points and they had more turnovers than us.

Marissa. For the first time since the MTSU game she brought some intensity to the court. Now we just need her to bring it for 40 minutes.

Negatives

Rebounding. We were dominated on the boards. No one went after loose balls and we seemed inclined to the fact that Langhorne would get all of them.

Intensity. Where was the energy? The girls have been waiting a month for this game and this is how they get fired up?

Toliver. She gets so mental against the Duke's and Carolina's. I don't get it. All those missed shots and no assists.

Harper. 5 points and two rebounds. She once again disappeared. She had two rebounds. Aurelie had 1 rebound and played four minutes.

The Offense. All year the team was filled with players who never saw a shot they didn't like. Now only four people want to shoot the ball and none creates their own shot. Langhorne had about 20-30 touches on Sunday. She should touch the ball on almost every possession. Sa'de needs to penetrate more as does Newman.

Officials. They weren't the reason we lost the game, but maybe one time Duke will get called for the moving screens and all the contact they create on the defensive end. No wonder that team is never in foul trouble.

Up Next
Boston College on Sunday with the chance to clinch third place in the conference.

Game 29: Duke

For the sixth time in the last 51 games, the Terps will play the Blue Devils. Maryland is 2-3 thus far, with the two wins coming when it mattered - in the postseason. Earlier this year, Duke took us to the woodshed at their place and jumped to the #1 ranking. Now it's our turn to turn the tables.

We currently have a few streaks we need to snap: Regular-season losing streak to Duke, losing in front of big home crowds and of course Duke's season-long winning streak.

No need to break down Duke like the other teams as we should know them better than ourselves so here are the links to their Stats and Roster.

Keys to the Game

Come out with intensity. I don't think this will be an issue with the team having revenge on its mind and the large crowd.

Contain penetration. Harding is going to drive, then drive, then drive some more. She must be stopped. We can't be afraid to take charges.

Watching the back-door cuts. A Wanisha Smith specialty. She runs to the arc then cuts quick for the open pass from Harding or Bales.

Marking up Waner. Whoever is assigned to Waner has to realize she doesn't crash the boards and just sits at the half court line waiting to run in transition.

Stopping transition. Slow them down so the speed doesn't beat our big people down the floor.

Attacking the middle. Yes, Bales is going to block shots, but we can't be afraid of her. Try to draw contact with pumpfakes, etc. to get her in foul trouble.

Pulling Bales out of the middle. Whoever is being guarded by Bales has to force her to play higher than she is used too that way the lane is open more for penetration.

Relaxing on our shots. We have a tendancy to rush our shots because we are scared Duke will block them. They aren't that much taller than us and we can hit our shots in rhythm like we do in other games.

Taking care of the ball. No stupid turnovers.

Aurelie's early minutes. I assume Aurelie will start due to senior day activities so she has to give us quality minutes.

Go out and have fun.

Articles

New York Newsday

Washington Post

Baltimore Sun

ESPN.com

Durham Herald-Sun

Raleigh News&Observer

Duke Chronicle

Saturday's Stories

Drey Mingo and Marah Strickland were both named to the WBCA All-America Team. I also counted 5 players that we also recruited made the team.

Kim Rodgers broke her right ring finger in her game last week and will be out for a few weeks.

With the Carolina loss last night we can still finish second in the league. We need to win out and Carolina needs to lose to Duke in the last game of the season. The only way we get the two seed is if Carolina losses twice (they also have Miami and Wake) and we win out.

Terrapin Times previews Shay's last home game

The Baltimore Sun does a feature on Shay and her impact on the team

Terps Overcome Halftime Deficit to Beat Seminoles, 74-60

For the first time all year the Terps won a game that they trailed at the half. That game was sloppy early on as Maryland was frustrated with FSU's zone. Then they picked up the pace and forgot about the three-point shot. As a result, Maryland has a 1.5 game lead over FSU and essentially clinches a first-round bye. If they go 0-2, then they would probably not have a shot. A win on Sunday, would clinch it for good.

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

Positives

Harper. She struggled with her shot early on, but continued to play hard on the defensive end. Today was the Harper that won Final Four MOP. She rebounded, blocked shots and stayed out of foul trouble.

Langhorne. It looks like she has a fire inside her recently. She's going after rebounds and really attacking the paint. she was shooting 3-of-6 in the first half and I think only 4 rebounds. in the second half she was 4-of-4 with 8 rebounds. Now she just needs to work on that FT shooting.

Shay. She seemed to let the game come to her instead of forcing shots that weren't there. She also brought back her patented pump fake (I wish more of the girls would do that) to initiate contact.

Kristi. More and more she is developing her game and not solely relying on taking the quick jumper like last year. Her defense looked better tonight and she seemed relaxed.

Coleman. Another player who didn't let her lack of scoring early on affect her game. when she was needed to score big buckets she did it.

Rebounding. Florida State is used to outrebounding opponents by 9 and we grabbed 11 more than them.

Defense. I liked how we played on D tonight. We cut off as much penetration as we could and tried to limit second chances. FSU isn't the greatest 3-point shooting team, but we still did a decent job of not giving their shooters open looks.

Negatives

Turnovers. The travels seemed a bit much and then we just weren't communicating on offense. Things have to be tightened up.

Free Throw shooting. Maybe we can work on that in the gym tomorrow.

Up Next
Duke on Sunday at home. Time to make sure no one goes undefeated this year.

Game 28: at Florida State (ESPN2)

Back in Florida for the second time this year. Our last trip down there resulted in a blowout win, with Ashleigh and Jade leading the way. It also happened prior to the Duke game. Funny how our two road trips to the furthest teams occurred before the Duke game, while Duke had two home dates before playing us.

Tonight's game has a lot at stake. First, a win gives us sole possession of third-place in the conference and gives us the tiebreaker over FSU. Second, it puts us one step closer to the first day bye. Third, it shows if the GT loss was a fluke.

Game is on ESPN2 as well as on WMUC.

Florida State

Record: 18-7, 7-3 (ACC), 9-2 (Home)

Common Opponents: Boston College (W, 72-53); Miami (W, 71-62; W, 75-68); Virginia Tech (W, 70-60); Clemson (W, 61-60); Duke (L, 73-60); Virginia (W, 63-47); NC State (L, 68-51); Georgia Tech (W, 63-52); North Carolina (L, 80-59)

Most points allowed: 84

Fewest points scored: 51

Team Information - Stats

Score 68.2 ppg, while allowing 59.8 ppg.

Outrebound opponents by 9 per game, which is interesting because in the two games I have seen them play, they have been outworked on the boards.

Shooting 26.4% from 3, while opponents are shooting 27.6 from the same distance.

Only 12.4 assists per game, while committing 17.6 turnovers per game.

Have blocked five shots per game.

Very fast team, that may bring pressure. They beat Carolina's trap by passing over it.

Players to Watch - Roster

Alicia Gladden - 5'11 senior guard who leads the team in points and steals. Likes to attack the basket as 272 of her shots have taken place inside the arc. She also rebounds the ball so she must be boxed out. Not a three-point threat as she has only taken 17 all year. Only shooting 67.7% from the free throw line.

Britnay Miller - 6'4 Center who is their main low post threat. Second on the team in points, rebounds and blocks. Doesn't shoot the 3 and is shooting over 50% from the floor. Shooting only 10% high from the free throw line. Will get in foul trouble, so she must be attacked.

Shante Williams - 5'7 guard who is third on the team in scoring, but first in assists and turnovers. She makes the team go, as she sat out the NC State game and the team looked flat. Loves to drive to the hoop and create contact so she can get to the line where she shoots 64.8%. Only 16 three-pointers all year.

Tanae Davis-Cain - guard who comes off the bench and loves to shoot. Main three-point threat having taken 130 this year (made only 35). Shies away from contact so she is more of a pull up shooter.

Jacinta Monroe - 6'4 freshman forward who compliments Miller on the block. Leads the team in rebounding and blocks. Shooting 54% from the floor and 57% from the line. Also has the tendency to get in foul trouble.

Mara Freshour - another starting guard, who will also shoot the 3. Team's best free throw shooter at 79.1% Essentially has no handle with the ball and must be pressured when she has it. When forced to handle the ball vs. NC State, she got flustered and turned it over a ton.

Nikki Anthony - back up post player who essentially sets screens for the shooters.

Alysha Harvin - back up guard who has come on as of late. Will drive the ball as well as shoot the three.

Keys to the Game

Attack their post players. Like we did versus Virginia, Langhorne and Harper must go to work early and get Miller and Monroe in foul trouble.

Rebound. Carolina did a great job of boxing out FSU and we need to do the game. Someone must keep a body on Gladden as she will try to dive in for the ball.

Take care of the ball. No more stupid turnovers.

No let up. When we get that big lead, keep our foot on the gas and make a statement.

Control their penetration. They don't like to shoot the 3 so they will be trying to drive on us all day. Toliver, Doron and Coleman must contain their players and force them to take shots they don't want to take. Williams will throw up shots just to get a call.

Apply some pressure. Make their guards work harder than they have to. They are only 8 deep.

Articles

Tallahassee Democrat

Tuesday's Trivia

The Baltimore Examiner writes that all the ACC teams have their Eyes on the Prize

Jerry Palm updated his bracket.

The latest updates from Under the Shell are below.

Episode #5

Boston College Highlights

Now that Florida State has lost to UNC, that gives us a half-game lead for third in the conference. A win Thursday would essentially clinch us a first-round bye as we would have a 2-0 mark against the two other teams with 4 losses.

Shay and Crystal were named Academic All-District and now advance to the National Ballot.

Monday Musings

Shay posted a blog on CSTV.com about the final few weeks of her season.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer is counting down towards the Final Four and profiled Crystal yesterday.

Laura Harper blogged about academic and athletic schedule.

Charlie Creme posted his latest bracket

Langhorne and Coleman lead Terps to road victory, 83-74

What a day for the Terps and for me. First I watch the Terps defeat Virginia on the road, then I race back to College Park to see the second half of the men's win over Duke. It was quite a day but it was well worth it. The women played fantastic for 30 minutes and as a result won their fourth straight over the Cavaliers. The win clinches the team's second straight winning season in the ACC and still puts them on track for that first round-bye. We trail FSU by a game (they still have UNC and us this week) and are a game up (with the tiebreaker) on NC State. I believe a win on Thursday and an NC State loss this week (they have Carolina on Friday) clinches that first round bye. For the first time in a long time, five players scored in double figures as the offense was clicking for most of the game.

Recap|Box Score

Positives

The first 30 minutes. The team showed intensity, passion and defense. I saw the old Maryland team out there during that stretch. People were diving all over the floor and Virginia look dumbfounded. We just need to extend that intesnity for another 10 minutes.

Langhorne. For the second straight game, she attacked the basket and it resulted in 19 points. She also decided to start rebounding again and it lead to a season-high 15 rebounds. Her free throw shooting needs some work, but I am sure she will work on that.

Coleman. She played like the Final Four All-Tournament performer. Double-double at halftime. Grabbing loose balls, fighting for rebounds and making her jumper in the lane. Looks like she is coming around.

Jade Perry. Hopefully the slump is over. 13 points using a variety of jumpers and moves in the paint. Let's hope she matches the effort in Tallahassee this week.

Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood. Forced to run the offense with Toliver in foul trouble and did it essentially flawlessly. The team continued to run smoothly and she continued to use her dribble-drive ability.

Rebounding. 3 players in double-figures.

Negatives

The last 10 minutes. Maybe the team wanted to get back for the Duke game or maybe they didn't want their friends on UVA to get crushed at home. Whatever the reason, it was unacceptable. Not everyone gets a chance to watch the game so when they see the score, they think we struggled wth UVA. We all know that's not true, but letting a 28-point lead get down to 9 is ridiculous.

Free throw shooting. I know Crystal and Harper are going to miss some free throws, but I don't expect Toliver, Sa'de and Jade to miss any. 60.7% is not going to help us win big games.

Toliver's defense. She lets her feet get set to quick and thus the person she is guarding blows past her. i also noticed that she is forcing people towards the baseliine, except sometimes the help isn't there and the player has an open lay up. she needs to funnel people towards the middle.

Articles

Charlottesville Daily Progress

Washington Post

Diamondback

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Staunton News Leader

Up Next
This week will make or break the season. First we have Florida State in Tallahassee with a chance to take over the third spot in the standings. Then the rematch against #1 and undefeated Duke Blue Devils on Sunday at home.

Game 27: at Virginia

Back on the road for the first of two games away from Comcast. This time it's a trip down 95 to 64 (or 81 to 64 depending on where you live) for Brunch with the Terps. Early game for the Terps and I have no idea if that's so Terp fans can watch the men play Duke or for TV purposes.

This marks our debut at the John Paul Jones Arena and hopefully we christen it the same way we closed down the old place - with a win.

It's been 6 games since we played them and it will be a good measuring stick to see how we have improved. The game will put an end to one of our 3 home-and-homes we have this year (Duke and BC are coming up). A win clinches a second-straight winning season in the ACC.

Virginia

Record: 14-10, 3-6 (ACC), 11-4 (Home)

Common Opponents: Temple (W, 71-65), Marshall (W, 75-58), North Carolina (L, 96-62); Wake Forest (W, 77-70), Boston College (W, 65-63), Virginia Tech (L, 60-58); NC State (L, 71-60); Florida State (L, 63-47); Duke (L, 76-61); Miami (W, 73-60)

Most points given up: 96 (twice)

Fewest Points scored: 47

Team Info - Stats

They score 72.3 ppg, while allowing 68.5

They Shoot 41.9%, while opponents shoot 40.4%.

Shoot 31.3% and allow from behind the arc.

They grab 40.2 rebounds per game, only 2 better than their opponents.

They also turn the ball over more than 17 times per game, and generate 9 steals per game.

Don't get in a ton of foul trouble as no one is averaging more than 3 fouls per game.

their bench has very little punch.

Since we played them no team has scored more 76 against them and that was Duke. This may indicate that they are slowing the tempo down now more to keep games close.

Also, the first game is no indication as we were playing with revenge on our minds from the Duke loss and Monica Wright was in foul trouble from the start.

Players to Watch

Lyndra Littles - Main post player. Undersized, but tenacious. Shooting 49.7% and leads team in points (16.4) and rebounds (8.6) Also leads team in turnovers. She killed us in the first match up with her variety of post moves. Harper is going to have to play her tighter and limit her shots.

Sharnee Zoll - one of the best PG in the league and is a slightly lesser version of Harding. She drives the lane, shoots the three and will dish the ball in traffic. Also has active hands on defense.

Monica Wright - Frontrunner for ACC Rookie of the Year honors. Coleman clone, but has to do more because lack of other players. She's active on defense with 57 steals and will drive to the bucket as well as take pull up jumperz. Has only made 16 of 67 three-pointers all year. Tends to get in foul trouble due to her aggressiveness

Brenna McGuire - Main three-point threat. She basically runs down the court and sets up shop for a 3. Has taken only 41 shots inside the arc all year (made more 3s than that). Also a liability on defense as she isn't quick enough to stay with faster guards.

Siedah Williams - Athletic forward who is only averaging 8.6 ppg and 7.0 rpg. She has taken over 100 shots, but her athleticism isn't helping with her offense.

Paulisha Kellum - She killed us in the first game with her drives. She doesn't take 3s.

Abby Robertson - Basically in there to set screens and give Littles and Williams some rest.

Keys to the Game

Stop Littles. Attack her in the paint and keep her from getting the ball. She doesn't score, UVA doesn't win.

Contain penetration. Pellum, Zoll, Wright and Williams will all try to drive to the bucket from the outside. Cut them off and force them into traffic.

Contain Zoll. She makes that team go. Stop her and the offense will falter. You have to watch for when she drives, because if she sees a double team she will pass to the open forward downlow.

Rebound. We should be able to dominate them on the boards. They have no one over 6'3.

Pick up the pace. Virginia only goes about 7 deep and they tend to get tired. Make them tap into that bench.

Attack. We have been better at this lately, and it's starting to open up the inside and the outside.

Take care of the ball. No carless passes.

Show passion. We need to show we can play on the road.

Toliver and Langhorne Carve Up Hokies, 78-59

In front of the smallest crowd the Terps have seen in a while, but bigger than most of the games last year, the team came out and withstood the early VT run before scoring 21 of 25 points to build a lead they would never relinquish. The win moves the Terps to 7-3 in the ACC and clinches another non-losing season. It also gives us our 4th win over VT, putting us one game close to tying up the series.


Recap|Box Score|Quotes|Notes|Photo Gallery|Photo Gallery

Positives

Kristi Toliver. The three-game slump may be nearing the end after a 7-of-10 performance. Also, she showed some penetration into the lane. Just what I have been waiting to see.

Crystal. That's the Crystal we are used to seeing. Taking the ball strong to the rack and using her quickness to score easy buckets.

The Offense. It looked to be smoother than it has been recently and people were actually moving without the ball. Still want us to crack 80 a few times before Duke.

The Defense. Wasn't great in the first half, except during the run, but in the second half the team put the clamps down and only gave up 26 points. For only the third time this season we held an ACC team under 60 points.

Harper. Her offense was ok. she took what was given to her, but didn't force anything. She really attacked the glass for rebounds though.

Negatives

Turnovers. Too many sloppy passes. We could see the hands in the lane and would still try and force it in. Need more ball reversal and have to stop trying to make the fast breaks highlight videos.

Rebounding. We did a great job limiting Diawara to one rebound, but four other players were all over the glass for them and we didn't box them out.

Articles

Baltimore Sun

Roanoke Times

Washington Post

Diamondback

The Sentinel

Up Next
The Terps travel to Charlottesville to take on the Cavaliers at the new John Paul Jones arena. Tip is at 12:30, so have brunch with the Terps on Sunday.

Game 26: Virginia Tech

At home again, for our first during the week game in some time. Second to last home game for the team this season as well as your second to last time to see Shay and Aurelie at Comcast. A win clinches a .500 or better record for the fourth straight year and keeps us in the driver seat for the first round bye in the ACC Tournament.

Most eyes tonight will be on UNC-Duke and since I will be at Comcast, I won't be able to study the game. NC State hosts Clemson, while Miami hosts Wake Forest.

Game tonight is on ACC Select for those that want to multi-task and watch two games at once.

Virginia Tech:

Record: 16-9, 5-4 (ACC), 3-4 (Road)

Common Opponents: Wake Forest (W, 74-54; W, 74-34); North Carolina (L, 102-68); Duke (L, 86-54; L, 75-65); UNC Greensboro (W, 56-45); Virginia (W, 70-60); Miami (W, 78-71); Georgia Tech (W, 73-68) - 6-3 record against them.

Most Points Allowed: 102

Fewest Points Scored: 40

About the Team - Stats

Team has won 5 of it's last 6 with the lone loss being to Duke by 10

Team starts three seniors and two sophomores.

Averaging 65.8 ppg (67.3 in the ACC), while allowing 63.3 (68.7 in the ACC).

Outrebounding opponents 39.7 - 35.5

Turn the ball over 18.9 times per game, with the opponents generating 9.1 of them.

Averaging 8.2 steals per game, while opponents only turn the ball over 16.8 times per contest.

Averaging 4.2 blocks per game

Rarely make a 3, averaging only 2.3 per game and shooting 24.3% from out there.

Their interior defense is better than their outside defense as teams shoot 39.1% inside the arc and 34.9% outside the arc.

Not a great free throw shooting team, averaging 68.5%

Players to Watch - Roster

Kirby Copeland. 5'10 guard. Leads the team in ppg (15.6), assists (113), steals (49), turnovers (85), shots (320). She essentially makes the offense go, and will use her quickness to penetrate the lane and score. Not a great foul shooter. She has to be pressured when she has the ball. Chances are Newman is guarding her.

Nare Diawara. 6'4 center. Second on the team in points (12.2), first in rebounding (8.9), first in blocks (41). Lanky player whose game has gotten better since last year. Will camp out in the paint on both ends of the court to clean up missed shots. Can be taken off the dribble and tries to avoid foul trouble.

Britney Anderson. 6' forward. averaging 10.1 ppg and 4.1 rpg. Mostly stays in the paint, but has taken 35 shots from outside the arc. Has only committed 37 fouls all year.

Brittany Cook. 6' guard. Another shooter who stays primarily inside the arc, but won't attack the rim.

Lindsay Briggs. guard who likes to shoot the 3. Has taken 102 shots, 76 of which have been outside the arc. Comes off the bench.

Keys to the Game

Bring the emotion again. We have to continue to play with high energy no matter the opponent.

Stop penetration. VT doesn't like to shoot the 3, so chances are they are going to attack the basket, especially Copeland. Cut off the path to the lane and we should be fine.

Box out Diawara. She is their main rebounding threat. If she can't get the ball, she can't score easy baskets.

Attack the paint. I still want to see more dribble penetration from the guards, everyone else does it why can't we?

Langhorne and Harper must establish themselves.

Articles

Diamondback

Roanoke Times

Examiner

Baltimore Sun

Wednesday's Words

According to Terrapin Times, both Drey Mingo and Marah Strickland were named McDonald's All-Americans.

Under the Shell Airs tonight, here is last week's episode:

Jerry Palm updated his bracket.

Brenda was on the John Thompson Show before the UNC game and here is the audio from that interview:

CSTV recently interviewed Crystal Langhorne, below is the interview.

Tuesday Trivia

Down to 6th in both polls, which is decent considering how we have played lately. Hopefully this is the last time we drop this season.

Marissa and Langhorne both make the Wooden Award Cut

The Examiner had two articles on the team today. One about trying to get separation and another about regaining their swagger

Two big losses in the ACC last night to help out our run to a Top 4 seed in the ACC Tournament. FSU now has two losses in the conference and GT now has four. As long as we win the games we are suppossed to (Duke's not a gimmie), we would get tie breaker over FSU. GT still has games with FSU and NC State.

Terps Clamp down on BC, 71-39

Finally, back in the win column! It's been over 10 days since I get to write about a win. It puts us at 6-3 in the ACC and keeps us in the log jam for 4th. One more loss and we will probably have to play on the first day. The 39 points were the fewest BC scored this year and the fewest we have given up since 1994. A nice crowd was also in attendance, especially for SB Sunday. Terps will need probably a sell out on Tuesday to finish the year with an average of 10,000 fans at home.

Harper and Coleman also record their 500th rebounds.

Positives

The defense. Better than it has been and it seemed like the ladies were really focused on shutting down BC. They moved around screens, stopped passing lanes and made it hard for BC to get a shot off. There were a few open looks and 33 was being left open, but we aren't going to learn defense overnight. A step in the right direction, but it needs to keep up the next few games.

Harper. She gave us a glimpse of last year as she attacked the hoop and jumped for rebounds. Plus she got Ress in foul trouble early.

Shay. Playing with renewed passion as her senior year comes winding down. 16 shots is a bit much, but she's showing energy and playing solid D.

Jade. Another poor offensive night, but attacked the glass and led the team with 10 rebounds. Got really annoyed it looked like, when her headband was moved.

Team's energy. BC kept it close for a while, but the Terps didn't get down over it and finally put them away early in the second half.

Sa'de. She attacked the basket on both ends, finishing with 7 points and 6 rebounds. I hope she is turning the corner too.

Coleman. 11, 9 and 5. great all-around game, although she disappeared in the second half and only took 3 shots.

Negatives

Turnovers. 19 of them. 11 in the first half and only 3 of them were forced. Team was dropping balls or just throwing it away. No need to force the ball into the post if it's not there.

The Offense. What happened to it? We haven't scored more than 76 in four games. the team looked like it stood around watching yesterday and suddenly the shots aren't falling. Also, it seems that our O suffers when the team focuses on playing D (if it leads to more opponents being held under 40 that's great).

Langhorne. She didn't seem into it yesterday. She got the ball in the post and just stood there holding it. Maybe all those double-teams have her thinking too much. It looked to me like she got benched in the second half for not trying to do more.

Toliver. The D was better last night, but she looks to be in a shooting slump and affected by the Duke and UNC games. She is also fading to the side on most shots.

Articles

Diamondback

Examiner

Washington Times

Washington Post

Baltimore Sun


Up Next
Thursday at home versus Virginia Tech. Tech is 4-4 in conference and 15-9 overall.

Game 25: Boston College

Back at home looking to restart the winning streak at home and in general. It will be interesting to see which team comes out to play, the one that slept walked through the first half the last two games, or the one who played in the other 20 games. This is a must win, not for tournament sakes, but for the psyche of the team. Plus, a loss gives FSU and GT another game on us in the race for the ACC Tournament byes.

Boston College

Record: 11-11, 1-7 (ACC), 1-6 (Road)

Common Opponents: NC State (L, 58-40; L, 64-46); Virginia (L, 65-63); Miami (L, 83-68); Clemson (W, 69-64); Georgia Tech (L, 60-49); North Carolina (L, 82-60)

Most points allowed: 83

Fewest points scored: 46

Team Information - Team Stats

Averaging 61.4 ppg, while allowing 58.9 ppg

Outrebounding opponents 37.5 - 32.4

Have turned the ball over 417 times, while opponents have only turned it over 307.

Shoot 74.3 percent from the line.

Only 34 blocks on the season, with 18 coming from one player.

Averaging only 5 steals per game.

Defensive minded team that will slow down the pace of the game. Holding opponents to .384 from the floor and .298 from 3.

Still play a Big East style of basketball ball, where it goes into the post first and then out to the shooters.

Relatively short team with only two players over 6'2.

Players to Watch - Roster

Katherin Ress. 6'4 center who is the focus of their offense. Has taken a bulk of their shots and is not afraid to shoot the 3 if left open. Also the team's main rebounder and shot blocker. Turnover prone and foul prone. Should be attacked at every chance we get.

Kindyll Dorsey. the team's main shooting threat. She has taken 184 shots, 117 of which have been 3s. Not much of a driver and doesn't really attack the glass.

Elisabeth Egnell. a 6'1 forward who plays the 3 as she will shoot from behind the arc as well as in the paint. Second on the team in rebounding and in steals. Not a great free throw shooter and doesn't get into foul trouble so either she is a great defender who avoids contact or doesn't play that much D.

Sarah Marhsall. 5'8 point guard, who looks to pass first. Likes to drive and create her own shot inside the paint as she has only taken 2 three-pointers all year. Averaging nearly 35 minutes per game.

Ayla Brown/Kaydia Kentish. The other forwards in the paint. Brown has been starting recently and is more productive than Kentish. Brown is averaging 8 and 5, while Kentish is averaging 4 and 3. Neither one will shoot the 3. Brown is also more of the shot block. Some of you may remember Brown from last year's American Idol.

Corey Rusin. The only other player who sees decent playing time. A guard who doesn't really do much but spell the tired players.


Keys to the Game

Show some emotion. The last few games have looked like last year's team. No determination, no heart. I want to see this team play hard like they did versus MSU and UCSB.

Attack the rim. I don't care if we don't shoot a 3 all game. It's time the guards attack the paint to get the other team in foul trouble and then free it up for Langhorne.

Crystal needs more than 6 shots. She can take Ress on every possession and that should be the goal until she is stopped.

Harper. Time to show up for games. Every game we have lost has because she has mostly been invisible.

Play defense. Don't let players turn the corner and have an open look at the hoop.

Don't worry about missed shots.

Rebound and hold onto the ball. We are dropping too many passes and rebounds.

Take care of the ball. Anything more than 15 turnovers is a disappointment.

Bottomline: We should crush this team, but I felt the same way about Tech.

Articles

Baltimore Sun


Game is on Comcast SportsNet and other Fox Sports Stations.

Georgia Tech Stings Maryland En Route to Upset, 77-72

For the first time in two years, the team has lost back-to-back games. That was also the last time we lost to an unranked team. The loss has several implications:
1) GT now owns the tiebreaker over us.
2) The team must win out or hope GT or FSU loses more games than them or the Terps will have to win 4 games in 4 days for the ACC title.
3) A 1 seed is likely out of reach and we could fall down to a 3 pending any more losses.

There were no positives from the game last night (If you saw one leave it in the comments section below)

The negatives were plenty.

The team once again failed to show up when an opponent gave them some resistence in the first half. The Terps tried to make a run in the first half and then when GT answered back, Maryland seemed to be in shock and let GT do their thing.

Right now only one person is showing up to play on a given night. Yes, there were four players in double-figures, but no one played with high energy from the start.

In the three games we have played against teams that can play defense and like to trap, we have scored 68, 71 and 72. that's fine if you aren't giving up chunks of points at a time.

Once again the defense was suspect. We guarded them tight and the refs decided today would be the day to call every touch resulting in 33 fouls. Problem is we allowed dribble penetration, something that has killed us all season.

Again sloppy with the ball. Balls stolen from behind, passes thrown out of bounds, etc. Plus, no one can hang onto the ball.

We didn't adapt to the style of play the refs were calling. The guards refused to drive to the bucket and when we did drive it was obvious and GT picked a charge.

What has happened to Laura Harper? Is it time to have her come off the bench again?


this was a terrible loss. I can understand losing if they give it their all, but GT scored under 40 points twice this season and we gave up that many in the first half.