Seniors Help Terps Weather Storm
Toliver, Coleman Turn Up Defense Down the Stretch: Maryland Women 83, Richmond 65

By Camille Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 4, 2009

RICHMOND, Jan. 3 -- Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman have played alongside one another for 117 games for the Maryland women's basketball team, and they have seen plenty of opponents get off to sizzling shooting starts. So when Richmond made nine of its first 15 three-point attempts and led for much of the first 28 minutes Saturday afternoon, the two seniors knew not to panic.

"Whenever we play a team, they don't seem to miss. I think we're kind of used to it, Kristi and I," Coleman said. "We know from experience they're not going to stay hot the whole game, so we just continue to maintain our composure and keep our teammates in it. Let them know we have to keep fighting through it."

The 14th-ranked Terrapins did just that. They trailed by four points with 12 minutes 41 seconds remaining but used a stifling defensive effort down the stretch to pull away for an 83-65 victory in front of a pro-Maryland crowd of 1,459 at Robins Center.

Maryland outscored Richmond, 29-7, over the final 12:41 and held the Spiders to 1-for-16 shooting from the field. Toliver (21 points, six assists) and Coleman (14 points, nine rebounds) combined for 14 points in that stretch.

For the first two minutes of the game -- Maryland's final tuneup before opening ACC play Thursday against undefeated Wake Forest -- the Terrapins (12-2) appeared to be cruising to an easy win. They forced Richmond (11-3) to turn over the ball on its first four possessions and sank three of their first four shots to open up a 9-0 lead.

But the Spiders, who were making 35.3 percent of their three-point attempts entering the game, hit their first three three-point shots to get back in the game. Then they took control with their outside shooting and opportunistic defense (seven steals in the first half). Maryland faced its second-largest halftime deficit of the season, 43-38.

"We got too fancy," Coach Brenda Frese said. "We got a little bit comfortable, jumping out to that big lead. That's something that we have to improve on, staying in that attack mode every single possession that we can."

The Terrapins made one important defensive adjustment at halftime: Instead of going under the on-ball screens, as they did in the first 20 minutes, they went over them, and that cut down on some of the open looks the Spiders were getting.

Maryland tied the score on three occasions in the opening seven minutes of the second half but couldn't get the defensive stop it needed to take the lead. Finally, after freshman Lynetta Kizer (12 points, 10 rebounds) made two free throws to knot the score at 58 with 11:04 to play, the Terrapins broke through.

Junior Demauria Liles (12 points) grabbed a defensive rebound -- one of seven she had in the second half -- and passed the ball ahead to Coleman, who found a wide-open Toliver on the right side. Toliver sank the three-pointer to give Maryland its first lead since midway through the first half. Then, at the other end of the court, Liles drew an offensive foul on Nikita Thomas.

"In those types of situations, it's up to Marissa and I to regain composure and stay poised," Toliver said. "When it's going back and forth, we understand that we can't give up baskets, we can't trade baskets with a team, we have to get defensive stops. As far as the offensive end, I think both Marissa and I know that we have to step up in those kind of situations, because we have the experience and capabilities to make plays."