One city south of Murfreesboro, Tenn., where the Terrapin women’s basketball team will play Middle Tennessee State to open its regular season, lies Shelbyville. In this small town known for its horses and girl’s high school basketball, Terps junior guard Ashleigh Newman teamed up with her head coach Rick Insell to win two state titles at Shelbyville High School.

When Newman returns home to play Middle Tennessee State Friday night, she will not only be greeted by friends and family who plan on attending the game, but also by Insell, who will be coaching against Newman from the opposing sideline.

“I worked a couple of camps for him over the summer so he’s really excited for this game,” Newman said about playing against Insell. “Now I get to come back and be an opponent for this game, so it’ll be a little different but definitely exciting.”

It will be the first time Insell prepares against Newman, after sharing so much success preparing with her during high school.

In his 28 years as head coach at Shelbyville, Insell took the Golden Eaglettes to a record 10 Class AAA state championship titles. He built a dynasty that won a record 110 straight games, and he continued his triumph into the new millennium, when he won four championships from 2000 to 2004.

When Newman played for the Golden Eaglettes, she continued the winning tradition. During her high school career, she led Shelbyville to three state titles – two of which they won while Newman earned state tournament MVP honors.

“She’s a top-15 player in the state all-time,” Insell said of the Terps’ first-ever player from the state of Tennessee. “She’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached, and we’ve had some players who went on to play in college and then in the WNBA.”

Both Newman and Insell have graduated from the high school game and moved on to bigger things – Newman is now a national champion, and Insell became a Sun Belt champion his first year coaching college basketball.

While Newman was helping the Terps through last year’s tournament run, Insell was one of her biggest fans.

“I was celebrating. I was one of the family just hollerin’ my butt off,” Insell said in a thick southern accent. “I wanted her to do well. I just don’t want her to do too well Friday.”

Newman will have plenty of supporters still “hollerin'” for her in Murfreesboro, even if Insell isn’t one of them. Her extended family and many friends will be in attendance for the Terps’ opener at Murphy Center. Just how many supporters will she have? “Too many to count,” according to Newman.

“This is going to be big for me and family and friends,” Newman said. “The ones that don’t get to travel often and see me play, this will be an experience for them to come to the game and watch this team.”

Newman admits that she doesn’t get to come home to Tennessee often, but in her return to her hometown during the summer, Shelbyville treated her like a champ.

In celebration of the Terps’ national championship, Shelbyville declared Aug. 20, 2006, “Ashleigh Newman Day.” On her self-titled day of celebration, Newman got to meet the mayor and received a plaque in front of family, friends and fans.

Although she may have only gotten a day of platitudes at home, her teammates are always praising the girl they call “New-New” for her work on the court.

“She’s our biggest hustler,” forward Crystal Langhorne said. “She always runs the floor hard, she gets a whole lot of offensive rebounds and always gives us energy when she plays,”

“She’s a tremendous X-factor for us,” coach Brenda Frese said. “She’s hard-nosed, she competes, and she loves to win. You know she came from all those state championships in Shelbyville that they won. Last year she proved to be our best defender. We would always face her up against our opponents’ best offensive weapon.”

Aside from being the team’s defensive stopper, Newman has had some memorable plays on the offensive side of the ball, too. The junior, who averaged 7.7 points per game last year, knocked down a three-point heave against then-No.1 North Carolina to send the game into overtime where the Terps eventually won.

The trip home to Tennessee will be the first one for Newman as a player. Frese mentioned how important it is for the team to bring each of its players home for a game during their college career.

“It’s the biggest thing when they commit to us at Maryland,” Frese said. “They commit four or five years to our program, we want to have them play at least one game close to home for friends or family to come see them play.”

This trip back home won’t be for celebration, as it was last time for Newman. It will be step one in the Terps’ title defense this year.

Even the history between Newman and Insell won’t stop tomorrow’s game from being all business for the two Tennesseans.

“I’ll probably nod and say ‘Hi’ to her,” Insell said. “But I’ll have my mind on what I’m doing and I’m sure she will too.”

Contact reporter Mark Selig at mseligdbk@gmail.com.