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Some of you probably didn’t even know it was happening. Some of you probably didn’t even know it was on ESPN2. Some of you were probably too busy watching Sanjaya Malakar bring little girls to tears on American Idol. I, on the other hand was in shock, complete disbelief, on the verge of a basketball breakdown. With 1:26 remaining in the game, it began to sink in; it would be the last time I would see Maryland senior guard Shay Doron in a Terrapin uniform as she fouled out with nine points, four assists and two rebounds and the team she once carried on her back, would go on to fall to Mississippi 89-78 in the second round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
Being a No. 2 seed and the defending champions was not supposed to result in a second round exit, but because the Terps were unable to shake off the hard pressed defense of the No. 7 Rebels, they joined the ranks of Notre Dame and Purdue to have the earliest tournament exit after winning a championship. While it’s hard for me to do, I have to take my hat, my coat, my Pumas and my socks off to Ole Miss. From tip-off, the defense was like a rain cloud nagging and torturing Brenda Frese’s offense, and until the three minute mark in the second half, the Terps couldn’t catch a break, grab an offensive rebound, or bring the deficit to within single digits.
One wouldn’t have expected Carol Ross’ squad to discombobulate Maryland the way they did, given the Terps’ 31 point blowout in a November match-up earlier this season. However, while turnovers were key to Maryland’s Tuesday night loss, guards Armintie Price and Ashley Awkward were keys to the Rebels’ advancing to the Sweet 16 to take on powerhouse Courtney Paris and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Price had a game high 29 points on 9-of 12 shooting while Awkward finished with 22 points and four steals. Three Rebels had three steals each. Maryland was led by Kristi Toliver who came off the bench with 24 points (yes you read it correctly, KT was not in the starting lineup for the second game in a row).
Was Frese’s decision not to start her sharp shooting guard a bad one? Doubt it. While Toliver may have led her team in scoring, she also led them in turnovers with 10 of the team’s season high 29 turnovers. Coach Frese said of her point guard, "Kristi is a tremendous shooter for us and when she can knock down shot for us her game is really flowing. In terms of all our point guards, we need to take better care of the basketball."
Ole Miss, meanwhile, had no problem capitalizing on the Terps’ mistakes as they scored 42 points off turnovers and by halftime had a 47-30 lead. Awkward said of her team’s performance, “It was all about our defense, all about trapping, all about stealing and about making plays.”
The (23-10) Rebels had 15 steals to (28-6) Maryland’s 7 and held the Terps to 41.8 percent shooting from the field and only 24 percent from the arc, while they shot 47.6 percent from the field and 41.7 from the three point line.
Even though guard Marissa Coleman scored 13 of her 20 points in the second half, Ole Miss guard Alliesha Easley who scored 16 points left the game due to an injury, and the Terps were able to go on a 12-4 run to cut the Rebels’ lead 79-72, they weren’t able to get any closer than within six points of their SEC opponent.
Once again, I on the other hand thought differently. After a lay-up by Toliver that put the Terps within eight with 1:20 left, I still had the hope of a little kid waiting for that one gift to mysteriously appear just minutes before Christmas was to expire. Instead as the game clock continued to trickle down, and Mississippi continued to make their free throws, reality began to beat at my chest hard.
I didn’t imagine they would go out the way they did. The road to a repeat wasn’t supposed to end against a Mississippi, but if anything against a Candace Parker and Tennessee or an Abby Waner and Duke. Shay Doron, Frese’s first big time recruit, wasn’t supposed to end her career at Maryland in Hartford but in Cleveland. The Terps weren’t supposed to get upset, instead they were to prove to committees they were worthy of a No. 1 seed, but clearly things don’t always go as planned—not if Ole Miss has anything to say about it.
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U of Maryland 