Welcome Terp fans!
We have a 10 deep broadcast crew and plan to bring you the very best coverage of the Terps' womens basketball team this season. We will use this space to post pictures, highlights and replays of our broadcasts for all of the games this season.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
GAMEDAY - 24/RV Virginia (16-6, 5-3) @ Maryland (16-7, 3-5)
Sorry for no GT recap. Things got crazy this weekend with the snow, Super Bowl, men's game against UNC, and everything else.
Tonight's game starts in like 10 minutes on wmucsports.com as well as CSN on the TV. I'll keep this simple:
If Maryland doesn't win tonight, kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye.
...What the hell. I'm in a good mood. Despite three straight heartbreaking losses at home that followed the same or similar scripts (opponent gets up big, Terps battle back then blow it at the end in stomach punching fashion), I'll say that the Terps save their season tonight.
PREDICTION - Maryland 76, Virginia 67
Tonight's game starts in like 10 minutes on wmucsports.com as well as CSN on the TV. I'll keep this simple:
If Maryland doesn't win tonight, kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye.
...What the hell. I'm in a good mood. Despite three straight heartbreaking losses at home that followed the same or similar scripts (opponent gets up big, Terps battle back then blow it at the end in stomach punching fashion), I'll say that the Terps save their season tonight.
PREDICTION - Maryland 76, Virginia 67
Friday, February 5, 2010
GAMEDAY - # 21/RV Georgia Tech (18-5, 4-3) @ Maryland (16-6, 3-4)
Welcome.
Welcome to February, welcome to the stretch run, welcome to the life of a team on the proverbial NCAA tournament bubble, and, most importantly, welcome back to this blog.
It's been a long couple of months without it. A lot of things happened during the time I was away that led me to allow this thing to slip through the cracks but now it's back, I'm back, and it's time to rev up and go full speed through the rest of the season, however long that may be.
There's a lot to talk about. Obviously, after I've been gone for so long, a ton of stuff has gone down. The epic home winning streak is over; in fact, the Terps are actually on a two game losing streak at the Comcast Center that needs to be broken immediately if they're going to harbor serious hopes of playing basketball deep in to March. There have been a few embarrassing road performances against sub-par teams. There was a really nice win on national TV at ranked Virginia. There have been a couple of heartbreaking, heart-stopping losses at home recently to put the Terps in to some NCAA tournament trouble. But we'll get to all of that in the future. For now, there's a game in about 20 minutes-pushed up because of the 2 feet of snow we're supposed to get this weekend-so let's focus on that.
There are a couple of storylines coming in to this game against the Yellow Jackets. The first one is that for the first time since February 20-24, 2003, the Terps have lost consecutive home games. That's...that's a long time ago. That's three years before the national championship. And not only have they lost two straight games at Comcast, they were both in heart-breaking fashion. First came the 48-game-win-streak buster; the 15 point comeback against upstart Miami that ended with super-freshman Riquna Williams hitting the game winning 3 pointer with 2.4 seconds to go for the Canes as they prevailed 80-77. Then, three days later, the Terps were down 11 late in the second half against # 7/# 6 Duke, but came back and then fell just short again thanks to a go-ahead bucket from Bridgette Mitchell with 1:29 to go to help the hated Blue Devils hold off the Terps 58-57.
The Terps have bounced back, sort of, since those two soul-crushing defeats. They went to Blacksburg, VA and rolled 60-44 over a Virginia Tech team that stunned # 10/11 North Carolina there a few weeks prior. Then they made easy work of non-conference patsy Longwood down in Farmville, VA 85-40. Kim Rodgers had 5 first half three pointers in that one to help spur the Terps from the start.
But this Georgia Tech team is a different animal. Unlike Maryland's last two opponents, (and like the Terps themselves) the Yellow Jackets have NCAA tournament aspirations. They're 17-5 but there aren't very many, if any, impressive wins on the ledger. They're 4-3 in ACC play; 4-0 at home, 0-3 on the road. They lost by 11 at UNC, by 26 at Boston College (who has been a pretty big disappointment this season...until last night when they stunned Duke), and by a basket at Virginia. They really, really need a road scalp and another good victory against an NCAA-tournament caliber team. Beating the Terps in College Park would fill both those needs. It would probably be their best win of the season, surpassing home victories over Miami and Wake Forest.
As for the Terps themselves, they're just 3-4 in ACC play. I'll take a deeper look at their NCAA tournament chances after this game but for now let's just say that they really need a victory here. They've already lost serve at home twice in ACC play and that's just something you can't do if you're a bubble team: lose at home in conference play. If they lose today, they fall to 3-5 in the conference and Monday's home game against Virginia becomes all-but-must-win with 3 of their final 5 on the road.
So let's break it down. Georgia Tech is led by Brigitte Ardossi, a 6'2 senior forward who leads the team in points (14.9 per game) and rebounds (7.3.) She shoots over 50% from the floor so it will be a tough job for the Terps to force her in to bad shots and out of her offensive game. But there's really no one key player for the Terps to focus on. Five players average 7.7 points or more per game. No one in their regular 8-man rotation averages more than 30 minutes per game. Alex Montgomery, their second-leading scorer and only legitimate 3 point threat (she has 48 on the year and shoots 36% from deep; no one else comes close to either of those), has only started 3 games this season. It's going to take a team effort from the Terps to shut down the Jackets and get the W today.
As for Maryland itself, they seem to have finally found their identity and their leader. Naturally, it's their only senior. Lori Bjork has absolutely taken over this team ever since that crossroads Virginia game back on January 11. The Terps were coming off a 73-45 wipeout at ACC dreg N.C. State in their conference opener. It seemed like an 0-2 start in conference play was inevitable given their road form up to that point...but Bjork had other ideas. She scored a game-high 20 on 6 threes to lead the Terps to a 61-60 upset of the-then-#23/19 Cavaliers. Since that game, she's scored double figures in every game (10 straight overall) and leads the team, by far, with 16.1 points per game in ACC play. She's also the leading three point shooter in the conference. She has become the key to their offense: when she's on, the Terps are on. When she's cold, well, they go cold too. There have been significant scoring droughts in the recent losses to Duke and Miami which have allowed those teams to build up the double-digit leads that the Terps have come back from. It would be a good idea to prevent Georgia Tech from getting a similar lead thanks to a similar scoring dearth today.
There are two other keys as far as I'm concerned: take care of the basketball and take advantage of the glaring mismatch of long range shooting. The first one is obvious and has been a key to Maryland basketball for years. Turnovers are going to happen but there can't be too many of them and they can't come at critical times. And I've already touched on the vast difference between the Terps and Jackets in terms of 3 point shooting. Not only does Bjork lead the ACC in 3 point shooting, the Terps also have Kim Rodgers who can light it up from deep (like she did against Longwood in the first half) and Diandra Tchatchouang who can shoot it a little bit. Georgia Tech has Montgomery and...that's it.
In the end though, it doesn't matter how they do it, it just matters that it gets done. Maryland needs to win this game. Period. I really don't know if they will but the thinking here is that Bjork makes the difference in the end with a few clutch 3's late. All I know is this: if it's half as good as the last time the Jackets came to College Park; a 99-95 double overtime thriller won by the Terps (that made Dave Vatz lose his mind on play-by-play for us), we're in for a treat. Recap and more to come afterwards.
PREDICTION - Maryland 74, Georgia Tech 68
Welcome to February, welcome to the stretch run, welcome to the life of a team on the proverbial NCAA tournament bubble, and, most importantly, welcome back to this blog.
It's been a long couple of months without it. A lot of things happened during the time I was away that led me to allow this thing to slip through the cracks but now it's back, I'm back, and it's time to rev up and go full speed through the rest of the season, however long that may be.
There's a lot to talk about. Obviously, after I've been gone for so long, a ton of stuff has gone down. The epic home winning streak is over; in fact, the Terps are actually on a two game losing streak at the Comcast Center that needs to be broken immediately if they're going to harbor serious hopes of playing basketball deep in to March. There have been a few embarrassing road performances against sub-par teams. There was a really nice win on national TV at ranked Virginia. There have been a couple of heartbreaking, heart-stopping losses at home recently to put the Terps in to some NCAA tournament trouble. But we'll get to all of that in the future. For now, there's a game in about 20 minutes-pushed up because of the 2 feet of snow we're supposed to get this weekend-so let's focus on that.
There are a couple of storylines coming in to this game against the Yellow Jackets. The first one is that for the first time since February 20-24, 2003, the Terps have lost consecutive home games. That's...that's a long time ago. That's three years before the national championship. And not only have they lost two straight games at Comcast, they were both in heart-breaking fashion. First came the 48-game-win-streak buster; the 15 point comeback against upstart Miami that ended with super-freshman Riquna Williams hitting the game winning 3 pointer with 2.4 seconds to go for the Canes as they prevailed 80-77. Then, three days later, the Terps were down 11 late in the second half against # 7/# 6 Duke, but came back and then fell just short again thanks to a go-ahead bucket from Bridgette Mitchell with 1:29 to go to help the hated Blue Devils hold off the Terps 58-57.
The Terps have bounced back, sort of, since those two soul-crushing defeats. They went to Blacksburg, VA and rolled 60-44 over a Virginia Tech team that stunned # 10/11 North Carolina there a few weeks prior. Then they made easy work of non-conference patsy Longwood down in Farmville, VA 85-40. Kim Rodgers had 5 first half three pointers in that one to help spur the Terps from the start.
But this Georgia Tech team is a different animal. Unlike Maryland's last two opponents, (and like the Terps themselves) the Yellow Jackets have NCAA tournament aspirations. They're 17-5 but there aren't very many, if any, impressive wins on the ledger. They're 4-3 in ACC play; 4-0 at home, 0-3 on the road. They lost by 11 at UNC, by 26 at Boston College (who has been a pretty big disappointment this season...until last night when they stunned Duke), and by a basket at Virginia. They really, really need a road scalp and another good victory against an NCAA-tournament caliber team. Beating the Terps in College Park would fill both those needs. It would probably be their best win of the season, surpassing home victories over Miami and Wake Forest.
As for the Terps themselves, they're just 3-4 in ACC play. I'll take a deeper look at their NCAA tournament chances after this game but for now let's just say that they really need a victory here. They've already lost serve at home twice in ACC play and that's just something you can't do if you're a bubble team: lose at home in conference play. If they lose today, they fall to 3-5 in the conference and Monday's home game against Virginia becomes all-but-must-win with 3 of their final 5 on the road.
So let's break it down. Georgia Tech is led by Brigitte Ardossi, a 6'2 senior forward who leads the team in points (14.9 per game) and rebounds (7.3.) She shoots over 50% from the floor so it will be a tough job for the Terps to force her in to bad shots and out of her offensive game. But there's really no one key player for the Terps to focus on. Five players average 7.7 points or more per game. No one in their regular 8-man rotation averages more than 30 minutes per game. Alex Montgomery, their second-leading scorer and only legitimate 3 point threat (she has 48 on the year and shoots 36% from deep; no one else comes close to either of those), has only started 3 games this season. It's going to take a team effort from the Terps to shut down the Jackets and get the W today.
As for Maryland itself, they seem to have finally found their identity and their leader. Naturally, it's their only senior. Lori Bjork has absolutely taken over this team ever since that crossroads Virginia game back on January 11. The Terps were coming off a 73-45 wipeout at ACC dreg N.C. State in their conference opener. It seemed like an 0-2 start in conference play was inevitable given their road form up to that point...but Bjork had other ideas. She scored a game-high 20 on 6 threes to lead the Terps to a 61-60 upset of the-then-#23/19 Cavaliers. Since that game, she's scored double figures in every game (10 straight overall) and leads the team, by far, with 16.1 points per game in ACC play. She's also the leading three point shooter in the conference. She has become the key to their offense: when she's on, the Terps are on. When she's cold, well, they go cold too. There have been significant scoring droughts in the recent losses to Duke and Miami which have allowed those teams to build up the double-digit leads that the Terps have come back from. It would be a good idea to prevent Georgia Tech from getting a similar lead thanks to a similar scoring dearth today.
There are two other keys as far as I'm concerned: take care of the basketball and take advantage of the glaring mismatch of long range shooting. The first one is obvious and has been a key to Maryland basketball for years. Turnovers are going to happen but there can't be too many of them and they can't come at critical times. And I've already touched on the vast difference between the Terps and Jackets in terms of 3 point shooting. Not only does Bjork lead the ACC in 3 point shooting, the Terps also have Kim Rodgers who can light it up from deep (like she did against Longwood in the first half) and Diandra Tchatchouang who can shoot it a little bit. Georgia Tech has Montgomery and...that's it.
In the end though, it doesn't matter how they do it, it just matters that it gets done. Maryland needs to win this game. Period. I really don't know if they will but the thinking here is that Bjork makes the difference in the end with a few clutch 3's late. All I know is this: if it's half as good as the last time the Jackets came to College Park; a 99-95 double overtime thriller won by the Terps (that made Dave Vatz lose his mind on play-by-play for us), we're in for a treat. Recap and more to come afterwards.
PREDICTION - Maryland 74, Georgia Tech 68
Sunday, December 6, 2009
GAMEDAY - Loyola (MD) (3-4) @ RV/# 22 Maryland (7-1)
This should be another easy one.
The 43 game home winning streak (which I haven't mentioned nearly enough in this space) is put on the line once again later today against an in-state rival out of Baltimore. The Greyhounds, however, shouldn't provide much resistance. They certainly didn't in last year's meeting at Reitz Arena, a game I called that the Terps won 83-52. Expect a similar scoreline tomorrow.
Loyola's just 3-4 with wins over La Salle, Army, and Mount St. Mary's and losses to Navy, Tulane, Bucknell, and, most recently, Towson. So Maryland is the first big conference school they're playing and the first ranked team they're playing. They're likely in for a rude awakening.
If there's anything resembling a superstar on the Greyhound roster, it's Miriam McKenzie. She's averaging 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on the young season and she also has 17 assists. All of those are team highs. Kaitlin Grant has 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and has dished out 15 assists. All of those are second to McKenzie. So I guess it's clear who the # 1 and # 2 players are tomorrow. McKenzie in particular will be an interesting matchup. She's no Alexis Rack but if she goes for 17.4 points a game, she's obviously no joke. It'll be interesting to see if Maryland can lock her down.
Like seemingly every other mid major, Loyola is undersized. No one who plays is taller than 6'1 so that'll be a challenge against the much bigger Terps later today. Kizer and Tchatchouang should be able to do whatever they want and I expect more playing time for Tianna Hawkins as she could thrive in a game like this as well.
Maryland doesn't really face tough competition for the rest of 2009. This next run of games needs to be when Brenda starts to shake out her rotation, define roles, and basically get all of her ducks in a row before ACC play. Start working out the kinks now because before you know it, it's gonna be time to travel to Raleigh and kick off the conference schedule with always-pesky N.C. State before heading to Charlottesville four days later to face # 14/# 15 Virginia. There are six games between now and and the Wolfpack game and they should all be easy wins, so it's time to start getting everything worked out.
Not sure when I'll get the recap up. I will TRY to do it tomorrow afternoon before I head to D.C. for the men's basketball team facing Villanova in the BB&T Classic but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'm on the broadcast so I definitely won't be able to do it until at least a half hour or so after the game goes final. If not tomorrow night then I'll get to it sometime Monday or Tuesday (it's the last week of classes, it's getting busy around here.) And be sure to tune in to the game itself tomorrow at 2 PM on www.wmucsports.com.
PREDICTION - Maryland 74, Loyola (MD) 51
The 43 game home winning streak (which I haven't mentioned nearly enough in this space) is put on the line once again later today against an in-state rival out of Baltimore. The Greyhounds, however, shouldn't provide much resistance. They certainly didn't in last year's meeting at Reitz Arena, a game I called that the Terps won 83-52. Expect a similar scoreline tomorrow.
Loyola's just 3-4 with wins over La Salle, Army, and Mount St. Mary's and losses to Navy, Tulane, Bucknell, and, most recently, Towson. So Maryland is the first big conference school they're playing and the first ranked team they're playing. They're likely in for a rude awakening.
If there's anything resembling a superstar on the Greyhound roster, it's Miriam McKenzie. She's averaging 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on the young season and she also has 17 assists. All of those are team highs. Kaitlin Grant has 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and has dished out 15 assists. All of those are second to McKenzie. So I guess it's clear who the # 1 and # 2 players are tomorrow. McKenzie in particular will be an interesting matchup. She's no Alexis Rack but if she goes for 17.4 points a game, she's obviously no joke. It'll be interesting to see if Maryland can lock her down.
Like seemingly every other mid major, Loyola is undersized. No one who plays is taller than 6'1 so that'll be a challenge against the much bigger Terps later today. Kizer and Tchatchouang should be able to do whatever they want and I expect more playing time for Tianna Hawkins as she could thrive in a game like this as well.
Maryland doesn't really face tough competition for the rest of 2009. This next run of games needs to be when Brenda starts to shake out her rotation, define roles, and basically get all of her ducks in a row before ACC play. Start working out the kinks now because before you know it, it's gonna be time to travel to Raleigh and kick off the conference schedule with always-pesky N.C. State before heading to Charlottesville four days later to face # 14/# 15 Virginia. There are six games between now and and the Wolfpack game and they should all be easy wins, so it's time to start getting everything worked out.
Not sure when I'll get the recap up. I will TRY to do it tomorrow afternoon before I head to D.C. for the men's basketball team facing Villanova in the BB&T Classic but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'm on the broadcast so I definitely won't be able to do it until at least a half hour or so after the game goes final. If not tomorrow night then I'll get to it sometime Monday or Tuesday (it's the last week of classes, it's getting busy around here.) And be sure to tune in to the game itself tomorrow at 2 PM on www.wmucsports.com.
PREDICTION - Maryland 74, Loyola (MD) 51
Saturday, December 5, 2009
REACTION - Maryland 66, Minnesota 45
It's always nice when a team shows they can win multiple ways. That's what Maryland did on Thursday.
The Terps played Big Ten style and out-grinded the Gophers for a solid 20 point victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They won with defense, holding Minnesota to 45 points, 27.1% shooting and just 30% from three point range. They outfought and outmuscled the Gophers all evening long in a very physical game. No one player on Minnesota shot better than 4/10 from the field so that was well done defensively by the Terps. The most impressive part perhaps could be that the Terps only committed 13 fouls in the game and no one fouled out. To play that good of defense without conceding many fouls is extremely impressive. Minnesota only got to the line 14 times all game.
In an interesting twist, Kim Rodgers got the start and did well with the opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points while also grabbing 8 rebounds. Brenda continues to start three guards, which is a luxury she can afford with Lynetta Kizer being such a beast down low and Diandra Tchatchouang also being able to be a force in the paint. And when you have this many good guards, why not start as many as you can? Dara Taylor had a nice rebound game, at least offensively, scoring 9 points on 4/8 shooting, but she didn't have a single assist and turned it over four times. She's been inconsistent to say the least this year, but the potential is most certainly there.
The shocker for me was that Tianna Hawkins only saw 8 minutes of action. But I suppose it sometimes works out that way from game to game and with a rotation that's far from set yet, sometimes players get more minutes and sometimes they'll get less. It's a testament to Maryland's depth, which is always an advantage.
The most impressive stat from Thursday, however? Maryland going 19/22 from the free throw line. When you do that, you're going to set yourself up to win a lot of basketball games. But this game was all about the defense and shutting down Minnesota's offensive attack. The Terps get Loyola tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM and I'll be on the broadcast of that one. I'll have a preview beforehand though so stay tuned for that.
The Terps played Big Ten style and out-grinded the Gophers for a solid 20 point victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They won with defense, holding Minnesota to 45 points, 27.1% shooting and just 30% from three point range. They outfought and outmuscled the Gophers all evening long in a very physical game. No one player on Minnesota shot better than 4/10 from the field so that was well done defensively by the Terps. The most impressive part perhaps could be that the Terps only committed 13 fouls in the game and no one fouled out. To play that good of defense without conceding many fouls is extremely impressive. Minnesota only got to the line 14 times all game.
In an interesting twist, Kim Rodgers got the start and did well with the opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points while also grabbing 8 rebounds. Brenda continues to start three guards, which is a luxury she can afford with Lynetta Kizer being such a beast down low and Diandra Tchatchouang also being able to be a force in the paint. And when you have this many good guards, why not start as many as you can? Dara Taylor had a nice rebound game, at least offensively, scoring 9 points on 4/8 shooting, but she didn't have a single assist and turned it over four times. She's been inconsistent to say the least this year, but the potential is most certainly there.
The shocker for me was that Tianna Hawkins only saw 8 minutes of action. But I suppose it sometimes works out that way from game to game and with a rotation that's far from set yet, sometimes players get more minutes and sometimes they'll get less. It's a testament to Maryland's depth, which is always an advantage.
The most impressive stat from Thursday, however? Maryland going 19/22 from the free throw line. When you do that, you're going to set yourself up to win a lot of basketball games. But this game was all about the defense and shutting down Minnesota's offensive attack. The Terps get Loyola tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM and I'll be on the broadcast of that one. I'll have a preview beforehand though so stay tuned for that.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
GAMEDAY - Minnesota (5-2) @ RV/# 22 Maryland (6-1)
Now let's try and do a little better the second time around against a major conference opponent.
Brenda Frese welcomes her old school in to the Comcast Center to face her current school in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It's the third year of the Challenge and the ACC's ahead 2-1 in this year's edition coming in to tonight. The Terps definitely want to do their part for the conference by taking down the Gophers.
Somehow, Maryland is ranked in the coaches poll again this week despite getting pasted a couple Sunday's ago at Mississippi State and having done nothing but beat up on patsies since then. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are in the "receiving votes" category in the same poll (due to wiping out in a holiday tournament against Texas and Rutgers.) Whatever. Pollsters never were accused of being the smartest group.
Anyway, back to tonight's game, which starts in like 3 minutes so I'd better hurry this up. Gophers are 5-2, best win is at a good TCU team, but they have losses to Utah (by 1) and, in their latest game, to preseason top 10 team Xavier. Kiara Buford and Ashley Ellis-Milan both average over 13 points per game for the Gophers. No one grabs more than 5.9 rebounds per game (Ellis-Milan's total) so the Gophers could be at a disadvantage on the boards tonight.
I think Maryland continues to defend Comcast Center and gets the ACC a valuable win in the Challenge tonight. Listen to the broadcast currently on LIVE on www.wmucsports.com; my friends Brian Kaufman, Daniel Baker, and Kevin Hannigan are on the call. I'll be back after the game with a recap that's much less rushed than this gameday post.
PREDICTION - Maryland 81, Minnesota 72
Brenda Frese welcomes her old school in to the Comcast Center to face her current school in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It's the third year of the Challenge and the ACC's ahead 2-1 in this year's edition coming in to tonight. The Terps definitely want to do their part for the conference by taking down the Gophers.
Somehow, Maryland is ranked in the coaches poll again this week despite getting pasted a couple Sunday's ago at Mississippi State and having done nothing but beat up on patsies since then. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are in the "receiving votes" category in the same poll (due to wiping out in a holiday tournament against Texas and Rutgers.) Whatever. Pollsters never were accused of being the smartest group.
Anyway, back to tonight's game, which starts in like 3 minutes so I'd better hurry this up. Gophers are 5-2, best win is at a good TCU team, but they have losses to Utah (by 1) and, in their latest game, to preseason top 10 team Xavier. Kiara Buford and Ashley Ellis-Milan both average over 13 points per game for the Gophers. No one grabs more than 5.9 rebounds per game (Ellis-Milan's total) so the Gophers could be at a disadvantage on the boards tonight.
I think Maryland continues to defend Comcast Center and gets the ACC a valuable win in the Challenge tonight. Listen to the broadcast currently on LIVE on www.wmucsports.com; my friends Brian Kaufman, Daniel Baker, and Kevin Hannigan are on the call. I'll be back after the game with a recap that's much less rushed than this gameday post.
PREDICTION - Maryland 81, Minnesota 72
Monday, November 30, 2009
REACTION - Maryland 82, Drexel 65
First of all, apologies for breaking my promise again. I really need to step my game up. Like the Terps, I suppose I've got a long way to go as well >_>
Second of all, Diandra Tchatchouang has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week so congratulations to her. She's been terrific all year thus far and it's high time she got some recognition for it.
Now, to yesterday's game. Lori Bjork was the leading scorer with 19 on 6/10 shooting including 4/7 of three. She's really found her stroke this past week after I called her out for being a disappointment previously. If she can continue to play like this, it's going to make the Terps just that much better.
The other big game was had by our Rookie of the Week. Tchatchouang had 18 on 6/11 shooting and she was 2/2 from three point range. She continues to be a consistent threat offensively, scoring inside and out. Without a doubt, she's been the biggest surprise of the young season and she's really doing an excellent job of stepping in for Marissa Coleman.
Anjale Barrett had maybe the most complete performance of the lot yesterday. She had 10 points and 6 rebounds, which tied for a team-high. She also had three steals, a game high. She got the start in place of Dara Taylor, who only got 13 minutes and didn't play particularly well yesterday, so perhaps reports of Taylor taking over the PG job were premature. Both should continue to get good minutes from here on out and it seems Frese is going to ride the hot hand, whoever it is. I'd expect her to settle on a solid rotation before ACC play though, but you never know.
Lynetta Kizer ended up playing, though she didn't start, and she poured in 13 on 4/6 shooting. Solid game for someone coming off of an ankle injury. She's now got four days to rest up before Minnesota comes to town on Thursday night.
All in all it was another good performance from the Terps in yet another ho-hum out-of-conference laugher. This one was maybe a bit more of a test than some of the others; Maryland didn't fully pull away until the second half but they did and they're now 6-1. It'll be interesting to see how they perform in their next big test against a major conference team on Thursday when the Gophers come to town. I'll be back then to preview it; might have something on the national landscape of women's basketball before if I've got the time this week.
Second of all, Diandra Tchatchouang has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week so congratulations to her. She's been terrific all year thus far and it's high time she got some recognition for it.
Now, to yesterday's game. Lori Bjork was the leading scorer with 19 on 6/10 shooting including 4/7 of three. She's really found her stroke this past week after I called her out for being a disappointment previously. If she can continue to play like this, it's going to make the Terps just that much better.
The other big game was had by our Rookie of the Week. Tchatchouang had 18 on 6/11 shooting and she was 2/2 from three point range. She continues to be a consistent threat offensively, scoring inside and out. Without a doubt, she's been the biggest surprise of the young season and she's really doing an excellent job of stepping in for Marissa Coleman.
Anjale Barrett had maybe the most complete performance of the lot yesterday. She had 10 points and 6 rebounds, which tied for a team-high. She also had three steals, a game high. She got the start in place of Dara Taylor, who only got 13 minutes and didn't play particularly well yesterday, so perhaps reports of Taylor taking over the PG job were premature. Both should continue to get good minutes from here on out and it seems Frese is going to ride the hot hand, whoever it is. I'd expect her to settle on a solid rotation before ACC play though, but you never know.
Lynetta Kizer ended up playing, though she didn't start, and she poured in 13 on 4/6 shooting. Solid game for someone coming off of an ankle injury. She's now got four days to rest up before Minnesota comes to town on Thursday night.
All in all it was another good performance from the Terps in yet another ho-hum out-of-conference laugher. This one was maybe a bit more of a test than some of the others; Maryland didn't fully pull away until the second half but they did and they're now 6-1. It'll be interesting to see how they perform in their next big test against a major conference team on Thursday when the Gophers come to town. I'll be back then to preview it; might have something on the national landscape of women's basketball before if I've got the time this week.
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