Terrapins Avoid Any Early Surprises Against Harvard

Maryland 89, Harvard 65

HARTFORD, Conn., March 18 -- Maryland's quest to defend its national title began against a wily opponent. Harvard seemingly would not appear to pose much of a threat to the Terrapins, but those familiar with college basketball lore know the Crimson's history.

Harvard holds the distinction of being the only men's or women's No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, a feat the Crimson pulled off in 1998 when it knocked off Stanford. Second-seeded Maryland wasn't about to let the past become prologue to another upset.

A bit sluggish from a 14-day layoff, the Terrapins nonetheless had little trouble putting away No. 15 Harvard, 89-65, on Sunday in a first-round NCAA tournament game at Hartford Civic Center. A strong showing by senior guard Shay Doron, who considered attending Harvard before choosing Maryland, helped the Terrapins (28-5) advance to a second-round meeting against No. 7 Mississippi (22-10) on Tuesday evening.

So was Doron's 21-point performance against the Ivy League school payback?

"No, honestly, I was just feeling it early and my teammates continued to find me," said Doron, who played in her school record 11th NCAA tournament game. "I got some great looks."

Point guard Sade Wiley-Gatewood made her first start since transferring from Tennessee in place of Kristi Toliver. Wiley-Gatewood finished with two assists and four points. Toliver finished with 13 points and nine assists.

"It was different" coming off the bench, said Toliver, who started the past 49 games. "Obviously, I haven't done it [a lot] since I've been here, but I'm willing to accept any role I'm given. . . . I'm the same player I was before. I'm just coming about in four minutes later."

Maryland Coach Brenda Frese, who indicated the lineup change likely will remain for Tuesday's game against Mississippi, said the switch was not punitive.

"We really felt like Kristi has been putting way too much pressure on herself," Frese said. "We wanted to take some of that pressure off of her. I thought Sade Wiley-Gatewood was giving us a big boost in terms of the vocalness that we need out of the point guard position, the energy. The two of them tonight, they couldn't have been better in terms of how they ran the team."

Whether it was juggling the starting lineup or a renewed emphasis on making the extra pass, Maryland did a terrific job finding the open shooter against Harvard (15-13). The Terrapins had 23 assists on 36 field goals. Every Maryland player except one had an assist.

"I loved how we shared the basketball," Frese said. "I thought we were extremely unselfish, really looking out for each other, really in sync. I love watching our team when they play like that."

After a turnover and a missed shot to start the game, Harvard scored on three consecutive possessions to take a 7-3 lead. Maryland seemed out of sorts early, turning over the ball and missing open shots, and didn't settle down until about five minutes had elapsed. Toliver, who entered 4 minutes 41 seconds into the game and played alongside Wiley-Gatewood, sank a three-pointer three minutes later that spurred a 15-3 run by Maryland.

Even though Maryland was clearly in control of the outcome, Harvard continued to scrap. The Crimson tried to shoot its way back into the game from the perimeter. It made a season-high eight three-pointers, tying the most the Terrapins had allowed in a game. But a flurry of three-pointers wasn't going to be enough to create another memorable moment for Harvard.

"I think the stars had to be aligned a little more closely for us to knock off last year's national champs," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "They are an incredible offensive team, and today they proved they are an incredible defensive team."

· MISSISSIPPI 88, TCU 74: Armintie Price and her Lady Rebels teammates pressed the Lady Frogs right out of the NCAA tournament.

Price scored 21 points, and the Lady Rebels (22-10) forced 23 turnovers to win their Dayton Region first-round game in Hartford, Conn.

TCU finished at 21-11.

· TENNESSEE 76, DRAKE 37: In Pittsburgh, the Lady Vols limited the Bulldogs to two points in the opening 10 minutes of each half, and Alexis Hornbuckle led a late surge in the first half as Tennessee won its opening-round game.

The Lady Vols (29-3), the top seed in the Dayton Region, didn't expect much trouble with the 16th-seeded Bulldogs (14-19) but got exactly that for most of the first half.

· PITTSBURGH 71, JAMES MADISON 61: Marcedes Walker had 20 points and 15 rebounds as the Panthers, at home, earned their first NCAA women's basketball victory in school history.

Shavonte Zellous added 17 points for Pittsburgh (24-8).