Playing on the most important stage yesterday, the Terrapin women’s basketball team didn’t give a great opening night performance.
The top-seeded Terps advanced with a dubious 80-66 NCAA tournament first-round win over No. 16-seed Coppin State, but played far from their best when it counted the most.
In a game they were widely expected to coast through, the Terps were definitely given a bit of a scare.
“We didn’t want this to be our last game,” forward Marissa Coleman said. “That’s all we kept saying.”
The Eagles had won 16 of their previous 17 games before yesterday, but they had far less firepower than should have been necessary to play competitively against the Terps.
The Terps presented a serious mismatch for the MEAC champion Eagles at every position, and should have been able to score at will.
At times they did, but at other times they fell into the same bad habits that have plagued them in several games this season, forcing shots and inexplicably turning the ball over 16 times against an undersized and athletically inferior Eagle defense.
Defensively, the Terps as a whole looked disappointingly soft, giving the Eagles too many open looks.
“It started with our defense,” coach Brenda Frese said. “We just lost some focus and intensity.”
The Terps looked far from a team that considers itself poised to make a run at its second national championship in three seasons, especially in the first half.
The Eagles gave the Terps some trouble early when they went on a 14-0 run to take a 20-15 lead with 11:10 remaining in the first half.
The Terps were unable to score on seven consecutive possessions, and as the Eagles’ shooting heated up, looks of concern crept onto the faces of Terp players and coaches.
“I’m not too sure what contributed to the slow start,” Coleman said. “I think we came out with some energy; then they went on their run and we fell off a little bit.”
Eagles junior guard Shalamar Oakley scored 10 of her 17 first-half points during the run, and combined with senior guard Rashida Suber for 45 of the Eagles’ 66 points for the game.
The Terps looked tentative for a lot of the rest of the half, and looked far from their best as the players walked dejectedly into the locker room with a 40-35 halftime lead.
“We weren’t pleased with how many open looks they were getting,” Frese said.
The Eagles kept pace early in the second half, before constant fouls and cold shooting began to catch up with them and the Terps slowly pulled away.
The Terps were able to get the ball inside with more consistency in the second half and did a better job defending Oakley, who was limited to three points after the break.
When Coleman rejected Oakley’s layup attempt – with arguably the most ferocious block of the season – with less than eight minutes remaining, the Terps erupted, mobbing Coleman and finally showing the swagger of a top seed.
It was the Terps only block of the game and one of their first signs of life all afternoon.
“I don’t think we were ever worried about being in danger,” Coleman said. “We’re going to get our opponent’s best game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing; it’s the NCAA tournament.”
The Terps were able to clear the bench at the end of the game, and the starters could smile on the sideline as time ran out, but the 14-point win was not the statement the Terps were hoping to make in the first round.
ACC Player of the Year Crystal Langhorne led the Terps with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and junior guard Kristi Toliver finished with 13 points, seven assists and seven rebounds despite dealing with a stomach illness.
The Terps will play No. 8-seed Nebraska on Tuesday in the second round, knowing they will need a more complete effort to move on.
“It’s the start of a new season,” Toliver said. “It’s one and done and everybody knows that.”
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