March 5, 2003

Weekly Release in PDF Format
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ACC Tournament Release in PDF Format
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ACC Tournament: Friday, March 7- Monday, March 10

GAME 1: Friday, March 7 ~ 6 p.m.
No. 8 Terps (10-17, 4-12 ACC) vs. No. 7 Clemson (13-14, 5-11 ACC)
at Greensboro Coliseum: Greensboro , N.C.

Maryland's Next Game:
GAME 4: Friday, March 8 ~ 4:30 p.m.
No. 8 Terps (10-17, 4-12 ACC) Vs. No. 2 North Carolina (25-4, 13-3 ACC)
at Greensboro Coliseum: Greensboro, N.C.

ACC Tournament action in Greensboro, N.C., is next up for Maryland 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 tournament bid would be theirs. The Terps enter Friday's game as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 7 seed Clemson at 6 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. Should they win, they would face No. 2 seed North Carolina on Saturday, March 8, at 4:30 p.m. That game will be televised live on Fox Sports South and on the Sunshine network. Comcast Sportsnet will taped delay the game at 8 p.m. that evening.

Razor, Fisher Earn ACC Honors

Two Terrapins received ACC honors this week, including senior guard Renneika Razor (New York, N.Y.) and freshman forward Chrissy Fisher (Rumson, N.J.). Razor received the first all-ACC nod of her career, landing on the second team. The honor marked Maryland's highest individual conference accolade since Kalisa Davis was named second-team All-ACC in 1998. Razor accumulated 97 votes, and was the top vote-getter on the second team. She was also named to the ACC's all-defense squad for the second year in a row.

Fisher received ACC all-freshman team honors, earning 31 votes, the third-highest total. Fisher was the Terps' third consecutive all-freshman honoree, including Anesia Smith last year and Kiki Wimbush in 2001.

Great Eight! Terps Look To Defy ACC Odds

Maryland enters the ACC Tournament as the No. 8 seed looking to bring home the Terps' ninth ACC championship in the tournament's 26-year history. If they succeed, the Terps would be the lowest seed ever to win the tournament. Heading into this year's tournament, the No. 5 seed was the lowest seed ever to win the tournament championship. That team, the 1986 Terrapin squad, upset No. 4 seed NC State in the first round 64-55. Maryland went on to shock No. 1 seed Virginia 92-68 in the semifinals and finished its championship run with a 92-74 win over No. 2 seed North Carolina. The tournament that year was held in Fayetteville, N.C.

Since the tournament expanded to eight or more teams in 1980, Maryland has been the No. 8 seed only one other time. Last season the Terps were seeded eighth. In 1995, Maryland was the nine seed.

Terrapin vs. Tiger Tales

Maryland leads Clemson 28-22 in the all-time series, winning four of the last 10 meetings. Clemson beat Maryland 70-59 at the Comcast Center on Jan. 9 despite 23 points from senior guard Renneika Razor and another 22 from junior transfer Delvona Oliver (Euclid, Ohio). In the Feb. 9 game at Clemson, the Terps were denied again, coming out on the wrong end of a 85-67 decision. ACC All-freshman selection Chrissy Fisher scored a career-high 20 points against the Tigers. The Terps' last win vs. Clemson was a 70-59 win on Dec. 5, 2001.

Stolen!

Maryland's Renneika Razor led the league in steals this season, averaging 3.31 per game, edging Duke's Alana Beard. Beard, the 2002 ACC Player of the Year, averaged 2.97 steals per game. Razor earned a spot on the 2003 ACC all-defense team for her efforts, marking her second straight year grabbing the honor.

Razor has lead the competition in ACC games as well, averaging 3.13 steals per game in conference games. Razor is 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 3.31 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 265. Razor's total is also good enough for a tie No. 20 all-time in ACC history.

Razor Cracks 1,000 Pts

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 1,151 career points, including 423 this season. Razor is 38 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 576 to date, and needs five 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 showed she has what it takes from beyond the arc when she exploded in the Terps' first meeting 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 10 games, Fisher has posted double digits in nine, including 20 points against Clemson, which tied her career high previously set against North Carolina. She earned her first career start vs. No. 2 Duke on Feb. 24, leading the team with 15 points and matched that offensive effort in Maryland's loss at No. 7 North Carolina to close out the regular season.

Close Calls

Maryland has certainly made it an exciting year for fans, especially 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 eight games have been decided by small margins of victory, or defeat. Four of the Terps' last fivehome contests were decided by a total margin of nine points, which resulted in two last-minute losses and an overtime thriller of a win vs. NC State.

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.

Going Up!

The beginning of Maryland's new era in women's basketball appears to be headed in the right direction. With an 10-17 mark and a 4-12 conference 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.

Maryland's 4-12 conference record tied or beat the Terps' ACC mark two out of the past four years and fell just one win short of tying or beating it three out of the past four.

Welcome Home

Welcome to the Comcast Center... Maryland held the grand opening for the new home of women's and men's basketball on Oct. 10 when the university celebrated the official ribbon-cutting at the Comcast Center. New head coach Brenda Frese lined up with Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, University President C.D. "Dan" Mote, men's basketball bench boss Gary Williams, Athletics Director Deborah A. Yow, and many others to address the crowd of over 1,200 invitees to the grand opening.

The Comcast Center's seating capacity will be an outstanding 17,100 with the building including such amenities as: