Feb. 26, 2003
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Game 27
Thursday, Feb. 27 ~ 7 p.m.
Terps (10-16, 4-11ACC) Vs. No. 8 North Carolina (24-3, 14-2 ACC)
at Carmichael Auditorium (10,000): Chapel Hill, N.C.
Live On the Radio:WMUC 88.1 FM (College Park)
Live On the Internet:www.wmucsports.com
Maryland's Next Game:
Friday-Monday, March 7-10
2003 ACC Tournament
at Greensboro Coliseum: Greensboro, N.C.
Maryland (10-15, 4-10 ACC) travels to No. 8 North Carolina (24-3, 14-2 ACC) Thursday for its final regular season game of the year. The game will be broadcast live from Carmichael Auditorium on 88.1 FM (College Park) and over the Internet at www.wmucsports.com. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
ACC Tournament action in Greensboro, N.C., is next up and will be held from March 7-10. The tournament remains as the Terps' last NCAA tournament hope. Should Maryland run the table in Greensboro, a tournemant bid would be theirs.
Razor' Status Day-To-Day As UNC Game Approaches
After sustaining a concussion in the Virginia game on Feb. 20, senior guard Renneika Razor's (New York, N.Y.) status is still up in the air for the North Carolina game on Feb. 27. Razor was evaluated the afternoon before the Duke/Maryland game on Feb. 24, and not cleared due to continued headache like symptoms. It marked the first game Razor had missed in her Terrapin career.
The Maryland/North Carolina Series
The Terps trail the Tar Heels 26-28 in the all-time series. Maryland has only managed one win in the past 11 match-ups, a 55-53 win on Jan. 28, 2001, at Cole Field House. The last time Maryland won at Carolina was on a 68-62 victory on Feb. 21, 1996.
North Carolina is the only ACC team new Maryland head coach Brenda Frese had met in her three-year coaching career before signing on with the Terps. 2002 AP National Coach of the Year, Frese's Minnesota team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament last year at Carolina by a 72-69 margin.
UM Vs. Ranked Teams
When Maryland faces No. 8 North Carolina on Thursday, the Terrapins will be looking for their first win over a ranked team in two years. The last time Maryland beat a ranked team was on Feb. 25, 2001 vs. NC State in Cole Field House. The Wolfpack women were ranked 17th at the time and the win was one of four the Terps had over ranked teams that year.
Striving For Five
Maryland's Brenda Frese has already given fans a number of positive signs towards a bright future of this rebuilding program and could be on her way to another. Despite being 4-11 in the conference right now, if Frese can lead Maryland to a win over North Carolina, she will surpass last year's ACC win total. In addition, that mark will either mark a tie or an improvement upon the squad's record three out of the past four years.
Stolen!
Maryland's Renneika Razor leads the league in steals this season, averaging 3.3 per game, and edging Duke's Alana Beard. Beard, the 2002 ACC Player of the Year, was averaging 2.96 steals per game entering the week.
Razor has lead the competition in ACC games as well, averaging a 3.14 steals per game in conference games. Razor was 22nd nationally in steals per game heading into this week.
Razor Climbs All-Time Lists
Senior Renneika Razor continues to climb the UM career charts for steals, averaging 3.3 per game this season. Her steals per game in ACC contests leads the conference. Razor set her new career high for steals in the Florida State (1/16) loss with eight and is currently fourth on Maryland's all-time list in that category with 262. Razor's total is also good enough for No. 21 all-time in ACC history, and is three assist from the No. 20 spot.
Razor 18th All-Time Scorer
In Maryland's 69-58 loss at Virginia, Renneika Razor became the 20th player in Maryland history to break the 1,000 point plateau. She scored 16 points and ended the afternoon with 1,001 career points. The senior guard currently has 1,138 career points, including 410 this season. Razor is 51 points away from the No. 17 spot all-time on UM's scoring chart where All-American Debbie Lytle (1980-83) now sits with 1,189.
Razor Approaches All-Time Rebounding Chart
Senior guard Renneika Razor has over 500 career rebounds, grabbing 573 to date, and needs eight more to crack the Top 15 all-time for that Maryland list. Bo Pearman (1981-84) and Jane Zivalich (1976-79) are currently tied for the No. 15 spot. Should Razor crack the list, she will be one of 10 Terps ever to etch her name on both the Top 20 scoring charts and the Top 15 rebounding charts in Maryland history.
Lighting It Up
Despite her freshman status, Chrissy Fisher (Rumson, N.J.) showed she has what it takes from beyond the arc when she exploded last time against North Carolina, hitting 6-7 from long range. Fisher's .857 for the game is a new Maryland school record. The previous mark was .667 and was held by five players.
Fisher followed it up with a 3-5 shooting performance behind the arc and 13 points in Maryland's overtime win vs. NC State on Feb. 1. Her two-game performance earned her ACC co-Rookie of the Week honors with North Carolina's La'Tangela Atkinson.
In the last nine games, Fisher has posted double digits in eight, including 20 points against Clemson, which tied her career high previously set against North Carolina. She led Maryland against No. 2 Duke on Monday in her first career start.
Close Calls
Maryland has certainly made it an exciting year for fans, especialy in the second half of the ACC season. Overall this conference season, Maryland has had six games decided by five or less points, and has a 3-3 record in those tight games. Four of the Terps' last seven games have been decided by small margins or victory, or defeat. Two of the Terps' last three home contests have been decided by a total margin of nine points, and both resulted in two last-minute losses and an overtime thriller of a win vs. NC State.
ACC Co-Player of the Week
Maryland's Renneika Razor split ACC Player of the Week honors the week of Feb. 16 after leading the Terps with two 20-plus efforts in a close loss to Wake Forest and a crucial road win against third-place Florida State. She shared conference player of the week accolades with North Carolina's Coretta Brown.
Razor posted efforts of 20 and 24 this week to led the Terps to a 1-1 record, including the Terrapins' first win in Tallahassee since the 1996-97 season. Razor shot a combined .571 from the field over two games, and grabbed eight rebounds. The conference win, over the third-place Seminoles, marked UM's fourth ACC win of the season and second on the road, a feat Maryland has not accomplished since the 2000-01 season. For Razor, her 20-plus scoring efforts this week marked her seventh and eighth of the year and moved her into the No. 18 spot all-time on the Maryland scoring charts with 1,115 points.
Going Up!
The beginning of Maryland's new era in women's basketball appears to be headed in the right direction. With an 10-16 mark and a 4-11conference record, Maryland has made the following strides this year en route to turning the corner back to national prominence.
Maryland won the first-ever game, men's or women's, in the Terps' new home, the Comcast Center. Senior Renneika Razor scored the first basket in the Comcast Center, en route to the Terps' 80-72 win over Loyola.
The Terps broke 100 points in a game for the first time since Dec. 28, 1993, when it downed UMES 102-31. Maryland's 104-point output was the highest since Dec. 1, 1992 vs. Drexel. That game was a 121-52 win for the Terps, and still stands as the school record for points in a game.
Maryland won its first ACC road game since Feb. 19, 2001, when UM grabbed a 69-53 win at Wake Forest. The Terrapins held on for ACC road win No. 1 in 10 tries. Last year's 0-8 effort on the conference road trail was the first time in program history the Terps finished without an ACC road win.
A crowd of 5,078, the largest at a Maryland women's basketball game since Feb. 24, 1996, was in attendance for the Maryland/NC State game on Feb. 1. The Terps won 74-72 in overtime. The last time the Terrapins hosted a home crowd that large was when 5,750 people were in attendance when No. 9 Virginia came to town.
Maryland came home with a win from Florida State for the first time since the 1996-97 season. The 66-61 win was the first for the Terps since Jan. 15, 1997, when Maryland took home a 65-58 victory.
