Today in Women's Basketball History: March 25
3/25/2020 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
(NCAA Second Round, College Park)
- Fourth-seeded Maryland advanced to its third straight Sweet Sixteen with a 69-64 win over fifth-seeded Texas on March 25, 2014.
- Senior Alyssa Thomas led the Terrapins with her 26th double-double of the year with 16 points, all in the second half, and 11 rebounds. Alicia DeVaughn added 12 points, while Laurin Mincy and Lexie Brown each had 10.
- Maryland advanced to its sixth Sweet Sixteen under head coach Brenda Frese.
- In a game that featured 15 lead changes and was tied seven times, Texas rallied from an 11-point deficit to get within 65-64 with 43 seconds left. After Longhorns senior Chassidy Fussell missed a 3-point try, Mincy made two free throws for a three-point lead.
- Nekia Jones then bounced a 3-point try off the rim for Texas, and Thomas clinched the victory by sinking two foul shots with 8 seconds to go.
- Quotable: "We had to find different ways in game to put it together," Brenda Frese said. "To see the sacrifices this team has made all season long, and to have different players step up over and over. I can't remember the last time I've seen Alyssa [Thomas] with zero points and we were tied at halftime. We are putting ourselves in a great position with our team. I am really happy for our seniors to be able to continue with a win on their home court. I told them in our locker room, we are not finished. I'm excited to be able to go, and we are going to make a run for the roses."
(NCAA Second Round, College Park)
- Maryland advanced to its fifth Sweet Sixteen under head coach Brenda Frese with a 74-49 win over fifth-seeded Michigan State on March 25, 2013 in College Park.
- Alyssa Thomas scored 28 points, Katie Rutan had 18 and Tianna Hawkins had 12 points and 11 boards. Alicia DeVaughn added 10 rebounds.
- Thomas had 18 at halftime to provide the Terrapins with an 11-point cushion. Her layup with 15 minutes left gave her 25 points and put Maryland up 46-30.
- Quotable: "When you talk about how we were able to defend and rebound, and obviously push tempo, just from start to finish I thought we set the tone of being aggressive," head coach Brenda Frese said. "I know all tournament long they talk about the three players to see. Maybe at some point there'll be four to see, and people will start talking about what Alyssa Thomas has done. To be able to allow her versatility and really help up I thought in the first half when we were a little bit stagnant. I thought she really set the tone, and like we do, I thought we really fed off of her. Tianna [Hawkins] was dominating and being aggressive and Katie [Rutan] was stepping up and shooting the ball and defending. We played tremendous team basketball tonight."
(NCAA Regional Semifinal, Raleigh)
- Behind two double-digit comebacks and a 21-4 run to end the game, Maryland rallied past the defending national champion Texas A&M 81-74 in the semifinals of the Raleigh Regional of the NCAA tournament on March 25, 2012.
- Laurin Mincy had 21 points and for her career-high 12 rebounds for her first career double-double. Alyssa Thomas added 21 points and nine rebounds for the second-seeded Terrapins.
- The Terps trailed by 18 points in the first half and by 11 midway through the second half, but Maryland fought its way back and held the defending national champion Aggies (24-11) to just one basket in the final 7 1/2 minutes.
- The Terps advanced to their fourth Elite Eight under head coach Brenda Frese.
- Quotable: ""This one was obviously extremely special and filled with a lot of Maryland magic," head coach Brenda Frese said. "For our team, we have had so many games that we have been battle tested like today, but obviously not on a stage like this in the NCAA tournament. When you battle teams in the conference and have to come from behind like when we were down by 20 to Georgia Tech, this team knows and has the confidence that we can come back against anyone. I thought we were just resilient in terms of our tenacity against a really talented Texas A&M team. I'm extremely happy and proud for our fans who came down to be a part of this and support us. I have the most utmost respect for (Texas A&M) Coach Blair and what he has accomplished. I have been in the same situation with our team of being the defending national champions, and it's a difficult role the next season. I give credit to both teams. It wasn't a pretty game for our end but we were able to withstand the waves of pressure and find a way to keep our composure for 40 minutes."
(NCAA Regional Semifinal, Albuquerque)
- Second-seeded Maryland beat defending national champion Baylor, 82-63, to advance to its first Elite Eight under Brenda Frese and in 14 years.
- Sophomore Crystal Langhorne went 14-for-18 from the floor for 34 points with 15 rebounds. Freshman Marissa Coleman added 15 points.
- Langhorne made the play of the night at the halftime horn, getting a layup that put the Terps ahead 35-28. The Terps inbounded from halfcourt with 0.6 seconds on the clock, throwing all the way to Langhorne underneath.
- The Terps advanced to their fourth Elite Eight under head coach Brenda Frese.
- Quotable: "The effort was there. I believe our kids fought hard," Baylore head coach Kim Mulkey said. "But I believe in complimenting the opponent when they're better, and I thought Maryland was bigger and better than us."
(NCAA Regional Final, Austin)
- Top-seeded Maryland won at second-seeded Texas, 79-71, to advance to the Terrapins' third Final Four in front of 12,874 Longhorn fans.
- Deanna Tate went 8-for-8 from the foul line and finished with 32 points. Carla Holmes poured in 28 points and went 10-for-11 at the line.
Maryland storms back, advances to Elite Eight
Published: March 26, 2012
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Maryland women's basketball team fell behind by double digits late in the first half on Sunday, but as the Terrapins have done time and again this season, they fought back, crafting an improbable 81-74 victory over third-seeded Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 at PNC Arena.
Playing in the region semifinals for the first time since 2009, the second-seeded Terrapins extended their winning streak to 10 and triumphed for the 13th time in 14 games.
Sophomore guard Laurin Mincy led Maryland with 21 points on 7-for-8 shooting and added a career-high 12 rebounds for her first career double-double, and sophomore forward Alyssa Thomas chipped in with 21 points and nine rebounds.
After ousting last season's national champions, Maryland (31-4) advanced to its fourth region final in Coach Brenda Frese's 10 seasons.
On Tuesday night, the Terrapins will play top-seeded Notre Dame, which dispatched fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure, 79-35, in Sunday's other Raleigh Region semifinal.
"Just a lot of Maryland magic going on in this game," Frese said. "For our team, we have had so many games that we have been battle-tested like today, but obviously not on a stage like this in the NCAA tournament. This team knows and has the confidence that we can come back against anyone."
In erasing an 18-point first-half deficit, the Terrapins went ahead to stay, 75-74, on senior center Lynetta Kizer's layup with 31 / 2 minutes left in regulation.
Mincy, who went 5 for 5 from the foul line and made both three-point attempts, followed with a fast-break layup off a pass from Thomas to make it 77-74, and Maryland was on its way to its second-biggest comeback of the season (the Terrapins erased a 20-point deficit on Jan. 6 to beat Georgia Tech at Comcast Center).
Kizer, voted the ACC's sixth player of the year, finished with 15 points and six rebounds, all offensive boards, and junior forward Tianna Hawkins added 12 points and five rebounds before missing the final seven minutes following a hard fall in Maryland's offensive end.
As is customary for Maryland, it owned the interior, holding an 18-5 margin in second-chance points and a 42-30 advantage in rebounding. The Terrapins also buckled down defensively in the second half with a 2-3 zone that limited Texas A&M to 35 percent shooting after intermission.
Maryland shot 48 percent, and although it committed 18 turnovers, only seven came in the second half. Texas A&M, meantime, had nine of its 14 turnovers come after halftime, including three in the final three minutes.
"I think when we were down 18, what was playing in my mind was I didn't want this to be my last game," said Kizer, who was an All-Met at Potomac (Va.) High. "That is honestly all I could keep thinking."
The Terrapins trailed 38-20 with 7 minutes 10 seconds remaining in the first half but stormed back with a 21-6 flurry before the break. Then, on its first possession of the second half, Maryland got a basket from Thomas to pull to 44-43.
From there, the Aggies (24-11) scored eight in a row to keep Maryland at bay momentarily. The Terrapins rallied again, though, this time trimming the deficit to 70-65 with 8:12 to play on Thomas's foul-line jumper.
After Texas A&M pushed the lead to seven on a layup from center Kelsey Bone, Maryland got four consecutive points from Kizer, and it could have been more (Kizer missed three foul shots during that stretch). But Maryland stayed within reach, limiting the Aggies to one field goal over the last 7:49.
"I thought we were going to be able to knock Maryland out of the game when we built those big leads," Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair said. "We missed a lot of box-outs, and they made us pay for it. We had them on the ropes and couldn't put them away."
The Aggies had five players score in double figures, with Alexia Standish collecting a team-high 19 on 8-for-14 shooting. But the freshman point guard missed an open three-pointer with Texas A&M down 77-74, and on the Aggies' next possession, she turned it over when freshman point guard Brene Moseley stole the ball.
Moseley quietly had a significant impact on the outcome, combining six assists and two steals against just two turnovers. The ACC all-freshman selection also contributed seven points and four rebounds.
"I think it speaks on how much we want it and how much we're willing to fight," said Moseley, an All-Met from Paint Branch. "We never gave up on each other, and even when we [were behind], we got back and recuperated, and we did it."
