Jan. 11, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - The champs have gotten better. The runner-ups have gotten younger.

Both are still unbeaten.

After beating Duke 78-75 in overtime last April to win the NCAA women's basketball championship, Maryland added significant depth behind an unchanged starting lineup. The Terrapins also are playing defense with more tenacity than a year ago, and the results have been profound.

Except for a season-opening 80-76 win at Middle Tennessee State, Maryland (18-0) has methodically accumulated one blowout win after another. The Terrapins were supposed to receive a test last Saturday from then 19th-ranked Michigan State - and won by 40 points.

Now, after walloping Miami 111-53 on Wednesday, Maryland travels to Duke on Saturday in a rematch of last year's classic title game. It's also a showdown between two of the country's three remaining unbeaten women's teams (along with North Carolina).

Duke (17-0) lost seniors Monique Currie and Mistie Williams from last season's team, but the Blue Devils have remained competitive behind a slick defense led by Lindsey Harding, last season's Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year.

It will take a near-perfect performance to stifle Maryland, which ranks second in NCAA in scoring average at 88 per game.

"I don't know that they have a weakness because they have such a strong inside-outside attack," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said Thursday. "They work hard, they execute well, they're very well coached. They've made more of a commitment on the defensive end of the floor. Now they're just as good on both ends."

Offensive certainly hasn't been a problem for the Terps. Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper have provided scoring punch inside, and guards Kristi Toliver and Shay Doron have expended many a zone defense with their sharp-shooting from 3-point range.

Reserves Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood, Jade Perry and Ashleigh Newman have also left more than one opposing coach shaking his head in wonderment.

"I haven't seen a team of so many skilled players be so unselfish. It's just amazing," Marist coach Brian Giorgis said after an 86-60 loss at Maryland last month. "You'd figure some egos would step in some place, but they hit the open person. They just pass the ball so well."

Giorgis, who also absorbed a loss to Duke this season, couldn't decide which team was better.

"They're both great teams, both different types of teams. Duke is young, pretty athletic. I've never seen a team shoot like Maryland, but we can't put the type of pressure that Duke puts on somebody," he said. "You play them both, you come away saying 'Wow' both times. They're both really good."

The Terrapins have been eyeing this game for months, if for no other reason that they finished behind Duke and North Carolina in the ACC last season. After blowing away Michigan State and Miami by a combined 98 points, it's safe to say that Maryland is primed for the showdown.

"I think we're playing with the utmost confidence, more than last year, which is scary," coach Brenda Frese said. "They don't want to go through ACC play like we did a year ago. They want to come out and make a statement."

Moments after Duke disposed of Georgia Tech on Wednesday night, the Blue Devils turned their focus toward the Terps.

"One of the first things we said when we got into the locker room was, 'At last, we can finally say we're excited to play Maryland,"' said Abby Waner, who scored 27 in an 83-51 win.

A sellout crowd will be on hand to watch the rematch of one of the greatest women's title games ever played. Duke appeared poised to win until Toliver sank a 3-pointer to force overtime.

"I don't think that shot or the image of that shot will ever leave any of our minds completely," Goestenkors said. "That was the highlight for TV and for the fans. Not for us, certainly, but for the fans and media. The media will not let us forget that shot, if we ever thought we could."

A victory Saturday would at least hasten the healing process.

"I take solace in the fact that I don't know if we lost the game. They won the game," Goestenkors said. "They just hit the biggest shot."