Kristi Toliver collected the inbound pass and surveyed the Duke defense before making her move. The former Maryland women’s basketball guard accelerated to her right with 10 seconds on the game clock.
Toliver rose up in one fluid motion, burying a game-tying triple to force overtime. The Terps went on to complete a 13-point comeback in an instant classic to clinch the 2006 NCAA National Championship.
“You couldn’t have scripted it any better,” coach Brenda Frese said. “[It’s] is a game you’ll always remember.”
Fast forward to now, where No. 18 Maryland is slated to face No. 11 Duke on Sunday in the first leg of a home-and-home series. The Terps will host this season’s matchup, while the Blue Devils will be the home team for the following game in 2026-27.
Both teams jumped at the chance to renew the historic rivalry this past offseason. It was something that just made sense for both teams, Frese said.
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The 80 matchups between Maryland and Duke — all but one of which taking place while both teams were in the ACC — date back to 1978. The Terps won the first 11 games of the series and were undefeated against the Blue Devils for more than six years. But increased success in the 1990s propelled Duke forward, closing the gap in the once-lopsided rivalry.
It was an uphill battle for Maryland through the early years of Frese’s tenure in College Park. The Terps lost their two games to Duke by 49 and 42 points in the coach’s first year at the helm.
“They were the standard. They were going to Final Fours, and they were beating everyone” Frese said. “With the talent that they had, you had to be able to build rosters to be able to compete against them.”
Duke proceeded to beat Maryland 14 consecutive times throughout the early to mid 2000s, a streak that held until March 2006. Frese knew Maryland had to play catch-up.
Frese’s twin sons were born on Feb. 17, 2008. Later that day, Maryland entered Cameron Indoor Stadium, seeking its first road win against Duke in more than eight years.
The Terps left victorious in a 76-69 win, marking their first regular-season sweep over Duke since the 1992-93 campaign.
Guard Chloe Pavlech, who was a freshman at Maryland in 2012-13, recalled drilling a big triple at Cameron Indoor before hitting a salute celebration.
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“I never talked a lot, but at Duke, they talk a lot to you, so it makes you talk back,” Pavlech said. “People can kind of tell you what that rivalry is like, and you can see it on TV, but until you actually are playing in it, you have no idea.”
Pavlech played for Maryland from 2012-16, logging more than 2,000 career minutes. She entered the 2015 postseason with no career wins against Duke, but that year’s bracket set up a clash between the rivals in the Sweet 16.
That game came just a year after the Terps’ final season in the ACC. Maryland entered halftime up eight, and a quick 7-0 run late in the game propelled the Terps to an eventual 65-55 win.
“I know they say every game is supposed to feel the same … but for Duke, I don’t know what it is, but you get the tingles, the butterflies, you feel the fear of the turtle,” Pavlech said.
Pavlech and the Terps questioned the future of the historic rivalry after leaving the ACC. They didn’t know the next time they’d feel that type of rivalry with another team. Pavlech called it a sad moment.
Over nine years have passed since the Terps and Blue Devils last squared off. The two teams finally get to reignite the storied rivalry on Sunday.
“Ever since I got the job here, we’ve been trying to play [Maryland],” Duke coach Kara Lawson, now in her fifth season, said. “It’s probably good I don’t have to think about them until Friday or I would probably have a headache all week.”