RALEIGH, N.C. – Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver still don’t want their college careers to be over.

Their tears after the Terrapin women’s basketball team lost 77-60 in the Raleigh regional final last night against Louisville made that pretty clear.

Coleman cried as she shot her last two free throws as a Terp, and both players sat with their faces buried in towels as time winded down.

The seniors still wish they were going to St. Louis for the Final Four, and they would still likely tell you they are willing to do anything in their power to help their team win.

But will and desire can only get you so far. You still have to make things happen, and for whatever reason last night, the Terps simply couldn’t.

When Coleman exploded for 42 points in the Terps’ regional semifinal victory against Vanderbilt on Saturday, the explanation for the Terps’ come-from-behind win was the Terps’ star seniors wouldn’t let the team lose.

They probably wanted to win just as badly last night, but Louisville simply played better basketball.

And so, a second straight season abruptly comes to an end in the Elite Eight, and two more illustrious, program-altering players end their careers unable to recapture the National Championship magic of 2006.

The Terps wanted it as badly as ever, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

“We’ve had great Terp careers, and we didn’t want it to end,” Toliver said. “So it’s unfortunate that it had to come to an end, especially this way.”

The Terps were just never able to establish a rhythm last night.

For much of the game, they looked rushed and anxious on the offensive end, making ill-advised passes and unforced turnovers. They settled for long-range shots that just weren’t there, and unkind rims didn’t help.

The Cardinals employed a full-court press and swarmed the Terps’ ball handlers. The Terps had to work for everything, and when they fell behind, it exasperated their problems.

“They did a really good job making us uncomfortable, throwing different looks at us,” Toliver said. “They wanted to be physical from the beginning, and we knew they were going to be that way.”

On defense, the Terps came out in a soft zone to start the game and pretty much let the Cardinals pick them apart. Louisville was able to find the passing lanes, get the ball to open shooters and score on way too many open jumpers.

The Terps switched to man-to-man defense about midway through the first half. But by then the Cardinals were playing with confidence, and the Terps were playing from behind.

They kept hitting shots that provided a glimmer of hope that perhaps another of their furious comeback runs was right around the corner. No matter how bad things looked in the second half when the Cardinals stretched their lead to double digits, you thought the Terps’ trademark will would find a way.

But the Cardinals always had an answer, and the run never came.

“We kept cutting into the lead but it seemed like every time we would get it within 10 they would hit a big basket,” Coleman said. “Just credit them for continuing to attack and not folding when we went on our runs.”

The Terps fought to the end, kept the game close longer than it probably should have been, and wouldn’t quit when big shot after big Louisville shot looked like it would be the fatal dagger.

Coleman and Toliver didn’t play their best games, but they were solid. They finished with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

Things didn’t end the way Coleman and Toliver had envisioned or the way they wanted them to, and because they won that national championship their freshman year, these season-ending losses feel even more unfulfilling than perhaps they should.

The Terps had the talent and the drive to make another storybook run to the top, but they ran into a tough matchup, and that’s that.

Like the players themselves, nobody wanted to see Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver’s careers come to an end.

But will and desire only get you so far.

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