July 24, 2012

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 1  |  Photo Gallery 2 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - After winning 123 career games, a national title and an ACC championship, Marissa Coleman entered the NCAA tournament in her senior year with one goal in mind: to win another title. Coleman threw everything she had into that run, and produced one of the best individual performances in Maryland women's basketball history along the way. In the Terps' 78-74 Sweet Sixteen win over fourth-seeded Vanderbilt, Coleman scored 42 points - the most of any Terrapin ever in a single game.

After they trailed early, she willed the Terps to their second straight Elite Eight and added another chapter to her Maryland legacy. The Terrapins trailed by as much as 18 in the game, but Coleman's will, along with the support of her teammates, kept the Terps' title hopes alive.

"Everybody's going to think of Marissa's 42 points when they remember this game. As crazy as it sounds, I didn't really realize how many points she was scoring until I looked up at the scoreboard near the end of the game and saw the number next to her name, " head coach Brenda Frese said. "Her points all came in the flow of our offense and I'm concentrating on a lot of different things. When I saw how many points she'd scored, I stopped for a split second to appreciate it. Then you see that she also had 15 rebounds."

"The game itself was a struggle from the start for us. Vanderbilt really got into us and disrupted us. We were down big in the first half. Marissa just decided we weren't going to lose on this day. Vanderbilt really didn't have a great match-up for her defensively, so that worked in our favor. Kristi didn't have a great game and was in foul trouble, but she made some crucial plays in the final minutes."

Coleman finished 15-for-27 from the field, made 10-of-11 free throws and had 15 rebounds. She scored 13 points in the final seven minutes to erase an 11-point deficit.

Toliver added 17 points, including 14 in the second half. She hit a crucial three in the final minutes and a layup with 57 seconds left to give the Terps their largest lead of the game at 74-72. Redshirt freshman Kim Rodgers pulled in a career-high 12 rebounds, including one huge defensive board with 1:13 left that would lead to Maryland's advantage for good.

"Overall, I don't think it's a game that I thought we played particularly well, but the way we fought back after getting so far down was something to be proud about," Frese said. "While it wasn't our best team performance, Marissa's game will surely go down in the annals of Maryland history as one of the single greatest performances of all-time. Especially when you consider how high the stakes were."