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

Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Adam Fried

Playing on the most important stage yesterday, the Terrapin women's basketball team didn't give a great opening night performance.

The top-seeded Terps advanced with a dubious 80-66 NCAA tournament first-round win over No. 16-seed Coppin State, but played far from their best when it counted the most.

In a game they were widely expected to coast through, the Terps were definitely given a bit of a scare.

"We didn't want this to be our last game," forward Marissa Coleman said. "That's all we kept saying."

The Eagles had won 16 of their previous 17 games before yesterday, but they had far less firepower than should have been necessary to play competitively against the Terps.

The Terps presented a serious mismatch for the MEAC champion Eagles at every position, and should have been able to score at will.

At times they did, but at other times they fell into the same bad habits that have plagued them in several games this season, forcing shots and inexplicably turning the ball over 16 times against an undersized and athletically inferior Eagle defense.

Defensively, the Terps as a whole looked disappointingly soft, giving the Eagles too many open looks.

"It started with our defense," coach Brenda Frese said. "We just lost some focus and intensity."

The Terps looked far from a team that considers itself poised to make a run at its second national championship in three seasons, especially in the first half.

The Eagles gave the Terps some trouble early when they went on a 14-0 run to take a 20-15 lead with 11:10 remaining in the first half.

The Terps were unable to score on seven consecutive possessions, and as the Eagles' shooting heated up, looks of concern crept onto the faces of Terp players and coaches.

"I'm not too sure what contributed to the slow start," Coleman said. "I think we came out with some energy; then they went on their run and we fell off a little bit."

Eagles junior guard Shalamar Oakley scored 10 of her 17 first-half points during the run, and combined with senior guard Rashida Suber for 45 of the Eagles' 66 points for the game.

The Terps looked tentative for a lot of the rest of the half, and looked far from their best as the players walked dejectedly into the locker room with a 40-35 halftime lead.

Continued...

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