Jan. 28, 2001

Box Score| Quotes

COLLEGE PARK, MD.- - The Maryland women's basketball team held on for the 55-53 win over North Carolina Sunday afternoon in Cole Field House. The Terrapins are now 14-6 and are in third place tie in the ACC at 5-4. North Carolina falls to 10-9 on the year and 4-5 in the ACC.

In an evenly-balanced game that included nine ties and 19 lead changes, it was North Carolina that had the biggest lead of the first 20 minutes, when they pulled ahead six on a fastbreak layup from Coretta Brown (Statesboro, Ga.) at the 1:14 mark. A jumper from Deedee Warley (Fort Washington, Md.) with 13 seconds to play before the break and brought the margin back to a four-point lead for the Tar Heels at the half.

The Terps and Tar Heels continued their see-saw battle throughout the second half. Carolina's largest margin in the second stanza was a six-point lead off the opening bucket of the half, courtesy of Tar Heel center Candace Sutton (Kettering, Md.). The Terps tied it up at 17:55, and the back-and forth game began again until Maryland began to pull away with just over three minutes remaining for their largest lead of the game, a six-point advantage, on a lay-up from Rosita Melbourne (Washington, D.C.).

Carolina pulled ahead with under a minute remaining on a three-pointer by Brown, who finished with a game-high 17 points. Maryland had plenty of time to get the equalizer, with sophomore guard Terri Daniels (Ellicott City, Md.) firing a shot at the 15-second mark from the baseline that was just off the mark. Warley was there for the put-back that eventually became the game-winner, putting the Terps ahead one with 13 seconds to play. North Carolina mounted one final charge that was stopped short by Renneika Razor (New York, N.Y.), who made her third steal of the game her most potent pick-off. After intercepting Brown's pass, Razor raced for the Terps' end of the court where Brown fouled the sophomore guard and sent her to the line for the two-shot foul. Converting one of two free throws, Razor and the Terps held on for the final 1.3 seconds for their fourth-straight ACC win.

Maryland meets No. 16/16 Clemson on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum. North Carolina heads to Georgia Tech that same night for a 7 p.m. contest. The Terrapins are in a tie for third with No. 24 Virginia in the ACC after winning their past two ACC games by a total of three points.