BOSTON – The old Shay Doron decided to show up for last night’s national championship game.

The one that makes the clutch shots, the one that leads the team in scoring and the one that gets in her team’s ear when necessary.

That was the Doron coach Brenda Frese recruited as step one of the Terrapin women’s basketball team. And now, three years and one national championship later, Doron let everyone know she’s still here.

“It felt a little bit like the old Shay,” Doron said. “I was going to do everything in my powers, whether it was getting some energy, yelling at somebody, getting in someone’s face, getting a steal, whatever it was.”

Frese called Doron’s performance “spectacular.” She finished with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. She had four steals, hit two 3-pointers and led the Terps in overtime.

The junior guard scored the Terps’ first four points of the extra frame, including a left-handed hook shot in the paint to tie the score at 74-74. It was the Terps’ only field goal of overtime.

“Shay carried this team on her shoulders tonight,” sophomore guard Ashleigh Newman said. “She really sparked us in that second half making that comeback. She came in and she stepped up and she became the leader that we knew she could be. And that’s what we needed.”

When the Terps trailed by double-digits in the second half, they seemed to be playing without any type of emotion, the exact opposite from Sunday night when they beat North Carolina.

Down by 12 with a little more than 15 minutes to play, Doron stole a pass, took the ball the length of the court and laid it in. As she came back down the court where her teammates were, Doron let out some screaming words as she pumped both her fists.

It didn’t matter that Duke hit a 3-pointer on the following possession. The game turned right there.

On the Terps’ next chance down court, Doron hit two free-throws and then Crystal Langhorne got a steal on the defensive. Langhorne scored a lay-up, got fouled and mimicked Doron by letting out a huge cheer and getting her teammates pumped.

“I was yelling at the top of my lungs,” Doron said. “I was like, ‘We have to find energy from somewhere. If we don’t were going to lose.’ I was yelling, literally at the top of my lungs. My teammates listen to me and they took it to heart and we went out and did our run.”

Doron had been criticized for not scoring as much as she used to. But last night, she did. And last night, she was by far the best player on the court for the Terps.

Even when the Terps looked like they were sleeping through the first half, Doron wasn’t. She was awake, she realized a national championship was at stake, and she did everything in her right mind to guide the team that’s been hers since day one.

“Shay was the building block of our program,” Langhorne said.

And last night, she was the building block of the Terps’ win.

“Coach B and I we hugged for about an hour and just kept saying, ‘God this is exactly what we wanted and hoped for and dreamed for,'” Doron said. “I’m just so glad to be here still.”

Contact reporter Andrew Zuckerman at zuckermandbk@gmail.com.