Top-Ranked Terps Suffer Their 1st Loss

Duke 81, Maryland 62

DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 13 -- Duke's game plan was simple: Make Maryland a one-dimensional team. By taking away the Terrapins' greatest strength -- their unselfishness with the basketball -- the Blue Devils rendered Maryland's potent offense futile.

No. 1 Maryland turned in its worst offensive showing of the season in its 81-62 loss to No. 3 Duke on Saturday before a raucous sellout crowd of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The loss -- the Terrapins' first since Feb. 13, 2005 -- ended the nation's longest winning streak at 24 games and reduced the country's remaining unbeaten teams to Duke (18-0, 4-0 ACC) and North Carolina (19-0, 4-0).

"I thought this game we were outworked, outhustled, outplayed, outcoached, you name it," Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. "Obviously, we have a lot of room for improvement."

This rematch of last year's national championship game proved more lopsided than expected. Duke held the Terrapins (18-1, 2-1), who have the second-most prolific offense in Division I, 33 points below their season average and 14 below their lowest output of the season. Maryland, which entered the game shooting 52.9 percent, made just 37.8 percent of its shots. Duke has yet to allow an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent from the field.

The Terrapins, who haven't won here in seven years, scored on their first four possessions before their offense unraveled. They began missing shots, and the more they missed, the more flustered they became.

"They are a great passing team," Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We were trying to make them a one-on-one team. Because when they pass and move the ball, at times, they seem unstoppable."

Duke guard Lindsey Harding added: "The game plan really was to make them penetrate. We knew that they were a great shooting team. We tried to force them to get to the basket, and when they were driving, they'd run into Ali [6-foot-7 center Alison Bales]."

Crystal Langhorne, the Terrapins' leading scorer, rarely touched the ball in the first half. Langhorne attempted only six of the Terrapins' 45 shots in the first half. She finished with 14 points. Shay Doron was the only other Maryland player to score in double figures. Limited by foul trouble, Doron had 11 points in 19 minutes. This is just the third time this season the Terrapins haven't had at least four players score in double figures in a game.

"Our frustration came from us not knocking down shots," Kristi Toliver said. "That's something we definitely need to improve on in order for us to be successful. We can't let our offense dictate our defense, and that's kind of what we did."

As impressive as Duke's defense was, the Blue Devils' offense was equally powerful. Harding tore through Maryland's defense, finishing with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting. Even more remarkable was Bales's performance. She finished with a season-high 18 points, 12 rebounds and 7 blocks.

"I saw her put a dribble on the floor and [make] the pull-up [jumper and] I knew she was in a groove," Frese said.

Maryland's last lead, 20-19, came on Ashleigh Newman's three-point shot -- one of only three baskets the Terrapins made from behind the arc. Duke scored the next seven points, and Maryland trailed by its biggest deficit of the season. Until Saturday, the Terrapins had not trailed by more than five points this season. Marissa Coleman made a layup to pull Maryland to 28-26, but Duke closed out the half on a 13-4 run.

Toliver left the game with an injured ankle with 5 minutes 41 seconds to play, but said afterward the ankle was fine.

Defense has long been Maryland's Achilles' heel, and Saturday, it cost the Terrapins in a big way.

"We've just got to learn to rely on our defense more," Doron said. "That's the thing I was most disappointed in [today] was our defense, not our shooting, not anything else."