Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kyle Swanson-SPPS

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Right before Virginia Tech took the court last night against the heavily-favored Terrapin women's basketball team, a fog machine that was part of the Hokies' pregame introduction blew a heavy steam that wafted over the No. 5 Terps as they were shooting around the hoop near where the Hokies made their entrance.

Several Terps had to fan the mist away from their faces as they continued to warm up, clearly annoyed by the situation.

Once the game began, the No. 5 Terps (24-2, 8-1 ACC) needed to overcome their biggest deficit of the season and play an overtime game against a team that is winless in the ACC just to avoid getting smoked.

Down by as many as 21 points in the first half, the Terps trailed until the final three minutes of the game and didn't take their first lead until almost midway through the only overtime in a stunningly close 74-71 win.

"In our locker room right now, we feel like we lost," assistant coach Daron Park said. "But obviously at the end of the day, we're thrilled that we got the W."

The Hokies (13-10, 0-8 ACC) had lost seven of their previous eight games entering last night, but they shocked the Terps with a 22-2 run off the opening tip.

The Terps shot 1-for-7 and committed eight turnovers during the run, while the Hokies scored almost at will, making their first six shots and scoring several times on easy layups after they beat the Terps down the floor in transition.

"They had the effort from the opening tip," Park said. "This is probably the first game this year where it seemed like every turnover hurt us. They did a wonderful job of capitalizing on that."

Though they may not admit it, the Terps looked like they didn't know what had just happened, how it happened or what they should do next.

"They came out extremely inspired," said junior guard Kristi Toliver, who scored 19 of her game-high 28 points in the second half and overtime. "We get everybody's best shot, so it was no surprise getting Virginia Tech's best hit, and they came out on fire."

The Hokies would stretch their lead to 31-10 with 10:13 left in the first half before the Terps mounted the beginnings of their comeback.

With Virginia Tech's shooting starting to go cold - they missed eight consecutive shots and later seven consecutive shots - the Terps began to chip away at the deficit.

The Hokies lead was down to 39-29 at halftime.

Continued...

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