Terrapins Shower Frese With a Win

In honor of Coach Brenda Frese, who is pregnant with twins, the Maryland Terrapins hosted the "World's Largest Baby Shower" last night at Comcast Center. Festivities included the playing of baby-themed songs such as the classic "Ooh Child," which features the memorable opening line, "Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier."

The song seemed appropriate on two levels last night, when the third-ranked Terrapins would have been hard-pressed to make a 77-53 thrashing of No. 19 Ohio State look much easier.

By dispatching the Buckeyes in the inaugural women's Big Ten-ACC Challenge, the undefeated Terrapins became the nation's first team to reach 10 wins and gained even more steam heading into their much-anticipated early-season showdown at No. 5 Rutgers on Monday.

"We're in a really good place," said Frese, who watched the Terrapins record their second straight 10-0 start. "And we want to continue to build on it and get even better."

The season's fourth victory against top 25 competition came swiftly for the Terrapins, who built a comfortable cushion within the game's first six minutes. Maryland pushed ahead 18-4 -- including a run of 11 straight points -- as Ohio State opened by hitting just two of its first 10 field goal attempts.

Ohio State briefly cut its deficit to single digits but the Terrapins pulled away early in the second half, when their front court accounted for the team's first 15 points. Ohio State (5-2) came in allowing just more than 49 points per game; Maryland reached that number less than five minutes into the second half, when Laura Harper scored two of her 13 points.

Maryland forward Crystal Langhorne finished with a game-high 17 points while Marissa Coleman added 14. Point guard Kristi Toliver continued her strong play in the early portion of the season, adding nine points and 11 assists.

Maryland did most of its offensive damage on the blocks, scoring 46 points in the paint.

The Buckeyes' post problems started when forward Star Allen picked up her third foul midway through the first half, which left talented freshman center Jantel Lavender to fend for herself. Though Lavender scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds (11 offensive), she couldn't do much to contain the Terrapins' post players even when Allen returned for the second half.

The Terrapins' front-court combination of Langhorne, Harper and reserve Jade Perry combined for 39 points on 61 percent shooting.

"I think the [Maryland] post players did a good job with their physicality," Buckeyes Coach Jim Foster said. "I think they gave our young post players a good lesson for this time of year."

While Ohio State became the first team this season to stay with Terrapins on the boards, equaling Maryland's 42 rebounds, Maryland allowed the Buckeyes to shoot just 30 percent.

Coleman delivered the evening's best defensive work. Ohio State's Marscilla Packer entered play leading the Buckeyes with 17.7 points per game. But Coleman used her size advantage to limit Packer's touches. After going scoreless in the first half, Parker finished with just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"The best thing was just to see how we executed defensively," Frese said. "Going in with a game plan, we just did a phenomenal job executing it to perfection."

¿ UNLV 62, GEORGE WASHINGTON 61: The Runnin' Rebels overcame a 24-point halftime deficit thanks to some stellar second-half defense and strong shooting, upsetting the No. 16 Colonials at the Four Points by Sheraton Invitational in New Orleans.

Sequoia Holmes had 22 of her game-high 25 points in the second half for UNLV (2-4). She hit the go-ahead jumper with 51 seconds left and outscored George Washington by herself over the final 20 minutes.

The Colonials (5-2) got 22 points from Sarah-Jo Lawrence, while Jazmine Adair added 17.

George Washington enjoyed a commanding 41-29 rebounding edge, including 19 offensive boards. But UNLV shot 60 percent in the second half and held the Colonials to just 27 percent.

It was a complete turnaround from the first half, which saw George Washington hold UNLV to 25 percent shooting in claiming a 40-16 halftime lead.

UNLV held George Washington to just one field goal during the final six minutes.

¿ VIRGINIA 84, WISCONSIN 60: Monica Wright matched a career-high with 27 points and the Cavaliers won in the inaugural women's Big Ten-ACC Challenge at John Paul Jones Arena. Wright led three Cavaliers (5-3) in double figures, including Lyndra Littles who scored her 1,000th-career point en route to a 17-point performance.