College Park, MD—
It had been two weeks since the Lady Terps and had hit the courts, but based on the performance today in the convincing, 90-52 victory over Army, it was just business as usual for Brenda Frese and her troops. The Terps were led by Senior forward Alyssa Thomas, who had 13 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and four assists, and senior guard Katie Rutan scored all of her 11 points in the second half, going 3 for 3 from three-point range. Already the leading scorer in Maryland women’s history, Thomas passed Juan Dixon for the most points by a basketball player , men or women, in school history, exiting early in the second half with 2,282 in her career. “I thought after we got the jitters out to start the game, and both teams were really fired up. I thought we were really able to show what separates us and makes us special,” Terps Head Coach Brenda Frese said. “I thought our defense and our rebounding really led to transition. We were really able to use our depth today. We really shared the basketball. We made really easy plays and were having a lot of fun.” Maryland claimed its second win in three seasons against a service academy in the NCAA tournament. In 2011-12, the Terrapins beat Navy, 59-44, in the first round at Comcast Center. The Midshipmen had won three straight Patriot League tournament titles until this season. The Terrapins also won in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the 10th time in Frese’s 12 seasons in College Park. Maryland advanced to the round of 16 in each of the last two seasons, including reaching a region final in 2011-12. Next up for the Terps is a match-up against Texas on Tuesday night, as they battled back to defeat UPenn today. |
