Terps return to form with blowout
Greg Schimmel
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Sports
Terrapin women's basketball fans hadn't seen Emery Wallace on the court in a while.
The redshirt freshman forward is usually the last Terp off the bench, and since the Terps had been having trouble pulling away from their opponents recently, Wallace had only played once in the Terps' previous eight games going into last night's 78-51 drubbing of Boston College.
So when freshman guard Marah Strickland made the last three of her career-high 20 points on a lay-up and free throw to give the Terps a 31-point lead early in the second half, the rout was on. And the "We Want Wallace" chants began.
Wallace eventually checked into the game with 6:05 remaining, with all five of the Terps' subs on the floor. The win served as a much-needed confidence boost for the No. 4 Terps as they head down the home stretch of the regular season.
"It's extremely important," coach Brenda Frese said. "With what we have remaining in conference play, we wanted to really start completing games and playing hard for 40 minutes. To be able to have the defensive intensity that we had transfer to our offense is really what we're looking for."
Strickland's five-for-five figures shooting from behind the arc paced the offense for the Terps, who shot 50 percent from three-point range.
Defensively, the Terps played much more efficiently than against Virginia Tech and Virginia, their two previous games, and did not commit a foul in the second half.
"That happened?" senior forward Laura Harper asked when told of the stat.
As they have in most games recently, the Terps started slowly yet again. But this time they were able to pick things up more quickly than they had the past few times out.
After quickly falling behind 7-2, the Terps went on a 10-0 run driven by threes from Strickland and junior guard Kristi Toliver, and they would not trail again for the rest of the game.
The Terps led 45-28 at halftime, and Strickland opened the second half with her fifth three of the game, sparking a 16-2 run that put the game out of reach, culminating with Strickland's three-point play that started the chants for Wallace.
The redshirt freshman forward is usually the last Terp off the bench, and since the Terps had been having trouble pulling away from their opponents recently, Wallace had only played once in the Terps' previous eight games going into last night's 78-51 drubbing of Boston College.
So when freshman guard Marah Strickland made the last three of her career-high 20 points on a lay-up and free throw to give the Terps a 31-point lead early in the second half, the rout was on. And the "We Want Wallace" chants began.
Wallace eventually checked into the game with 6:05 remaining, with all five of the Terps' subs on the floor. The win served as a much-needed confidence boost for the No. 4 Terps as they head down the home stretch of the regular season.
"It's extremely important," coach Brenda Frese said. "With what we have remaining in conference play, we wanted to really start completing games and playing hard for 40 minutes. To be able to have the defensive intensity that we had transfer to our offense is really what we're looking for."
Strickland's five-for-five figures shooting from behind the arc paced the offense for the Terps, who shot 50 percent from three-point range.
Defensively, the Terps played much more efficiently than against Virginia Tech and Virginia, their two previous games, and did not commit a foul in the second half.
"That happened?" senior forward Laura Harper asked when told of the stat.
As they have in most games recently, the Terps started slowly yet again. But this time they were able to pick things up more quickly than they had the past few times out.
After quickly falling behind 7-2, the Terps went on a 10-0 run driven by threes from Strickland and junior guard Kristi Toliver, and they would not trail again for the rest of the game.
The Terps led 45-28 at halftime, and Strickland opened the second half with her fifth three of the game, sparking a 16-2 run that put the game out of reach, culminating with Strickland's three-point play that started the chants for Wallace.
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