Oct. 27, 2012
BUY TICKETS
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland women's basketball team is ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason poll, released Saturday. The Terps have started the season ranked in each of the last eight years.
Head coach Brenda Frese's Terps have started the year in the AP's top five in four of her 11 seasons. This is their first preseason top five appearance since 2008.
Maryland will play seven games against preseason Top 25 teams. First, the Terps will play at No. 18 Nebraska on Nov. 28 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. After that, Maryland will take on No. 2 Connecticut in Hartford on Dec. 3 as part of the Jimmy V Classic.
The Terrapins, who return four of five starters from last year's ACC Championship squad, ended the 2012-13 season ranked No. 5 in the AP poll. The Terps went 31-5 last year and went to the NCAA Elite Eight.
Maryland is one of four ACC teams ranked in the preseason top 25. Duke comes in ranked No. 3, Georgia Tech is at No. 22 and Miami begins the year at No. 24. Virginia, Florida State and North Carolina all received votes.
The Terrapins were picked to finish second in the ACC this year. 2012 ACC Player of the Year Alyssa Thomas, senior Tianna Hawkins and junior Laurin Mincy were all named to the 10-member Preseason All-ACC Team. Thomas was also voted the Preseason Player of the Year.
Incoming freshman Malina Howard was named to the ACC's Newcomer Watch List. Howard, a native of Twinsburg, Ohio, was the No. 1 post player in the country in this year's freshman class.
To see the full AP preseason poll, log on to http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings.
Maryland opens the 2012-13 season on Friday, Nov. 9 vs. Mount St. Mary's at the Comcast Center. The Terps will play two exhibition games prior to the opener. First, they will welcome Catholic University Tuesday for a 7 p.m. matchup in College Park, then Goldey-Beacom for a 7 p.m. game on Nov. 5. For tickets to all games, log on to UMTerps.com.
-Terps-