ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Kristi Toliver was thinking about Michael Jordan.

She thought about Jordan’s heroic 38-point effort against the Utah Jazz in Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals. She thought about how Jordan played while battling a terrible flu.

And Monday night, Toliver, a freshman guard, followed through with her thoughts in the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s 75-65 NCAA tournament regional final overtime win over Utah.

She scored a career-high 28 points on 10-for-22 shooting, including a career-high six 3-pointers on nine attempts. And, like Jordan, Toliver’s impressive night came in the midst of a stomach bug she caught less than 24 hours before gametime.

“I was definitely a little nervous about what was going to happen with being sick and not getting sleep and not really getting any nutrients in to have energy,” Toliver said. “But once we got [to the arena], I couldn’t really have that mentality anymore. I just had to put it behind me and just go out and play.”

At one point in the second half, Toliver scored eight straight points for the Terps and was engaged in a tremendous one-on-one, back-and-forth battle with Utah’s Kim Smith.

“Kristi was phenomenal,” coach Brenda Frese said. “I thought [Toliver and Smith] both stepped up with a lot of poise and a lot of confidence. That’s what you’ve got to have out of your leader, your point guard.”

Toliver was draining 3-pointers from everywhere, and many came from NBA range. When her shot cooled off a bit, she executed the inside-outside game with sophomore center Crystal Langhorne to perfection.

Langhorne added 18 points, including 14 in the second half when many of her baskets came as a result of Toliver’s assists.

“Someone needed to step up offensively and just because I was in the flow of things I took on that job,” Toliver added.

As far as the illness the Terp players and coaches had to deal with during the trip to Albuquerque, it is not expected to remain with them for the final four. Team officials alluded to the stomach bug being a 24-hour virus or something of that nature.

By the time the Terps leave for Boston later this week, they should have a healthy team.

“I’m not sure we completely know whether it was a stomach virus or flu,” Frese said. “It’s gone through our team, support staff, band, cheerleaders, and it’s amazing to think we stayed healthy all season long. – What are the odds that you’d ever see something like this happen to a team?”

Team officials said staff members of the hotel the Terps stayed at had also been hit with the same illness.

Laura Harper, Jade Perry, Charmaine Carr and Toliver were all sick before tip-off, along with Frese and one assistant. By halftime, Ashleigh Newman had joined that list. After the game, Marissa Coleman said she did not feel well.

“It was definitely that feeling of, ‘Why is this happening, can this really be happening to this team at this moment?'” Newman said. “But from the moment we all got sick, we knew that we were gonna still be able to pull this win off.”

Contact reporter Andrew Zuckerman at zuckermandbk@gmail.com.