Today in Women's Basketball History: April 4

• With two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior in the starting lineup, Maryland won its first NCAA women's title on April 4, 2006, coming back from a 13-point deficit to force overtime and beat Duke 78-75.
• Freshman Kristi Toliver hit a 3-pointer over Duke center Alison Bales to force overtime. She went on to make two free throws with 35 seconds left in overtime to give Maryland the decisive lead. 
• Toliver, Laura Harper and Shay Doron each finished with 16 points. 
• Freshman Marissa Coleman hit the last two free throws for Maryland with 13.4 seconds left. 
• Maryland outscored Duke 42-32 in the second half. 

Associated Press Game Story

BOSTON - Maryland's players celebrated on the court, laughing and hugging and bouncing up and down.

Never mind that they still had overtime to play.

"Overtime is our time," Terrapins forward Marissa Coleman said. "What a better way to win a national championship than in overtime, which was our time all season long?"

Too young to fear the pressure and too experienced to succumb to it, the Terrapins won their first NCAA women's title Tuesday night, coming back from a 13-point deficit to force overtime and beat Duke 78-75.

Freshman Kristi Toliver hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, then made two free throws with 35 seconds left in overtime to give Maryland the decisive lead.

Maryland (34-4) is 6-0 in overtime games this season - the first five on the road and the last in the championship to cap the second-largest comeback in a women's final. It was the first time the title was determined in overtime since Tennessee beat Virginia in 1991.

Toliver's 3-pointer at the end of regulation sent the Terrapins into a frenzy and deflated the Duke bench. But the real party came after Blue Devils guard Jessica Foley's desperation, well-covered 3-point attempt nicked the front of the rim at the overtime buzzer.

Piling up on the court, hugging and bumping chests, the Terrapins reveled in the youth that had been the biggest doubt surrounding them coming into the tournament. Even coach Brenda Frese, who was the coach of the year at 32 and a national champion at 35, is on the precocious side.

"Age is just a number," she said. "When you got kids that believe and they believe in each other and they've got that kind of confidence, you can accomplish anything as a team."

Foley made two free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation to give Duke a 70-67 lead, then Frese called timeout to set up a play.

Toliver, who had 12 turnovers in the semifinal victory over North Carolina, brought the ball down and veered to the right. With Duke's Alison Bales in her face and 6.1 seconds left, she lofted the 3 that would spark the first of the Terps' two celebrations.

"And I even felt her fingertips as I was holding my follow through," Toliver said. "So, she did a great job contesting. I just had a lot of confidence. And I knew I wanted to take the big shot so I just took it."

Duke (31-4) opted not to call a timeout; Lindsey Harding brought the ball down the court and put up a desperation leaner from the right baseline that went off the rim.

After that, the usually frenetic Frese just let her players take over.

"I didn't have to say a word," said the coach, who took over a 10-18 team four years ago after winning the 2002 coach of the year award with Minnesota.

Maryland was a charter member of the Final Four 25 years ago but struggled before Frese took over the program in 2002.

"Who would have ever thought in my wildest dreams I would have gotten two rings this year?" Frese said. "One getting married and the other a national championship."

Duke took a 75-74 lead before Toliver sank two free throws to put Maryland ahead for good. Coleman, who bounced back from Frese's furious first-half tongue-lashing to finish with 10 points and 14 rebounds, hit the last two free throws for Maryland with 13.4 seconds left before Foley's 3 barely hit iron.

Toliver had 16 points, four assists and just three turnovers in the title game. Final Four Most Outstanding Player Laura Harper and Shay Doron also scored 16 for the Terrapins.

Tournament MVP, Maryland's Laura Harper, celebrates with the championship trophy after beating Duke 78-75 to win the NCAA women's Final Four basketball championship game Tuesday, April 4, 2006, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

All game long, Frese was walking the sideline and clapping, screaming out plays and in one case walking onto the court to rip into Coleman for the first 30 seconds of a two-minute timeout.

Coleman got the message.

After scoring just two points in the first half, the 6-foot-1 freshman battled against the 6-foot-7 Bales too keep Duke from using its inside edge to counter Maryland's speed. And that's when Toliver, who had to give up the ball-handling against the Tar Heels, took over.

Duke coach Gail Goestenkors wasn't surprised to see a pair of freshmen maintain their poise.

"No, I've seen it too many times," she said. "Every time they go to overtime, they've won."

The loss will sting back on the Durham, N.C., campus, which is already roiling in the aftermath of a lacrosse party that led to allegations of rape and racism. Coach G failed in her fourth trip to the Final Four to add a banner at Cameron Indoor Stadium along the three won by her better-known male counterpart, Mike Krzyzewski.

"I just feel utter disappointment for my players and my seniors," she said. "It's killing me - not for me, but for my players."

But her players felt just the opposite.

"I woke up knowing we were going to win this for her," Harding said. "I wanted to win this for Coach G. I get tired of people saying she can't win the big game."

Monique Currie, who came back for a fifth year to try to win a title, scored 22 points for Duke, and Bales had 19 points and 12 rebounds. But Bales made just one of two free throws with 47 seconds left and the game tied 74-all.

"Right now, I don't feel good about how things ended," Currie said.

Maryland Stuns Duke for Women's Basketball Title

By Lynn Kinser Drape, New York Times
published April 5, 2006

BOSTON - The improbability of Maryland's stunning, why-not-us drive for a national championship came to a head in one amazing play Tuesday night. With time running out in regulation, the 5-foot-7 freshman guard Kristi Toliver dribbled around two screens and shot a 3-pointer right over Duke's biggest barrier, the 6-7 center Alison Bales.

When it sailed smoothly through the basket with 6.1 seconds left, it capped a comeback from a 13-point second-half deficit and sent the game into overtime, where Toliver and another freshman, Marissa Coleman, each hit two free throws to seal a 78-75 victory.

"In my opinion, big-time players want the ball in big-time situations," Toliver said. "So I wanted to take the shot."

Maryland won its first national title, stunning Duke, its far more experienced Atlantic Coast Conference rival. This was Duke's fourth trip to the Final Four without winning a single title, keeping Coach Gail Goestenkors without a victory in two national championship games and ending the decorated career of the fifth-year senior Monique Currie in heartbreak.

Maryland's young players whooped it up with the abandon befitting a team with no seniors and two freshmen in its starting lineup. The Terrapins came into the Final Four with no stars in their eyes. They pushed aside the underdog label and confidently predicted victory.

So they thought nothing of lifting one another up in celebration and daring to anticipate a title when Toliver had simply sent the game to overtime.

"When Kristi hit that shot, we all went crazy," Coleman said. "We just said overtime is our time. We've done that all season."

That attitude certainly helped Maryland (34-4) go 6-0 in overtime this season. It also kept the Terrapins from folding when they found themselves behind by 13 in the second half.

"We just said we're going to keep believing and we're going to keep coming back," said Maryland Coach Brenda Frese, who said she had the utmost confidence that Toliver, despite a night full of missed shots and mistakes, would make the crucial basket at the end of regulation.

The Terrapins set two screens and yet Toliver was still not open. But she refused to pass the ball even when she saw Bales looming in front of her.

"She's tall and she's long and I thought if I got it over her it would feel pretty good," Toliver said. "I knew when it left my hand it was going in."

The same attitude prevailed when Toliver and Colemen, the two freshmen, went to the free throw line late in overtime. No one flinched.

This was the third time conference rivals have met in the national title game and only the second time the championship has been decided in overtime. Maryland's surge from 13 points down was the second-biggest comeback in title game history.
Toliver, guard Shay Doron and forward Laura Harper each had 16 points to lead Maryland. Currie scored 22 and played valiantly in trying to hold off Maryland in the second half and in overtime. She scored two tough inside baskets late in regulation and two more in overtime.

But Currie left the court without the national title she had returned to school for, having graduated from Duke last spring. She spent the year working toward a master's degree and trying to will Duke to an elusive title.

"Clearly right now I don't feel good about how things ended," Currie said. "It's a tough loss. I think we tried as hard as we could and left it all out on the floor and that's all that you really can ask for. But it really hurts right now."

Before the game, Currie and the other Duke players had said they wanted this title for Goestenkors, whose tournament frustration has only grown despite a much mellower, player-friendly approach in recent seasons.

"I just feel utter disappointment right now for my players and specifically for my seniors," Goestenkors said. "So it's killing me right now. Not for myself but for my players."

Duke (31-4) seemed to take control of this game in the first half and early in the second. Its smothering defense had kept Maryland out of its usual free-flowing offensive game. Bales was clogging up the middle with an intimidating presence. But the Blue Devils were not shooting well.

Duke's 45-32 lead with 14 minutes 53 seconds left did not frustrate Maryland, which chipped away at the lead. Harper hit two tough baskets inside and celebrated with pumping fists. Coleman hit several preposterous fallaway jumpers late in the half.

"I give them all the credit in the world," Goestenkors said. "They didn't panic. They stayed in the game and came out on top."

Toliver seemed to have a special formula for not panicking. She had 12 turnovers in the semifinals against North Carolina and against Duke, and she was 5 for 17 from the field before her big shot.

"I think the biggest thing is, we never treated them like freshmen," Frese said. "From the minute they stepped on campus, they didn't act it or behave like it."

In the end, though, they celebrated with all the exuberance they could muster.