Maryland Athletics 2021 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Crystal Langhorne

When Crystal Langhorne committed to Maryland in the fall of 2003, some people in her life implored her that she was making the wrong decision. 

Langhorne chose Maryland over the UConn Huskies, a school in the midst of a dynasty having gone 108-4 over the previous four seasons and capturing three national championships. 

In the end, it was Langhorne who got the last laugh as she became a defining player for new coach Brenda Frese, capturing a national championship of her own in 2006. After a career of success, Langhorne is the latest inductee into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame.

“When I found out this was happening, it meant so much,” Langhorne said. “I care about Maryland so much, and the fact that they wanted to honor me in this way, being inducted into the Hall of Fame, it just means a lot. I'm really excited for it.”

Back in 2004, Maryland women’s basketball was not the powerhouse that it is today. Head coach Brenda Frese was in her third season in College Park and still looking for that signature recruiting win. 

That signature win came in the form of Langhorne, one of the best recruits in her class, regardless of position. 

Born in Queens, N.Y., and coming from Willingboro, N.J., Langhorne was one of the most dominant and most decorated high school players in the country, having been named the New Jersey State Gatorade Player of the Year twice. 

The letters from schools all over the country came pouring in, and while she knew she had her choice of any school, she also knew that Maryland was the home for her.

“I truly believed in [Coach Frese’s] message,” Langhorne explained. “It was really that Maryland was far enough from home, but not too far. It just felt right to me.”

When Langhorne first stepped onto the court at the XFINITY Center, it was clear that she was a difference-maker. She averaged 16.7 points per game and grabbed a career-best 12.4 rebounds in her first year as a Terp, winning ACC Rookie of the Year honors. 

Her sophomore year ended up becoming one for the record books as another dominant regular season gave way to postseason excellence with the Terps going on a run to the Final Four. The Terps met ACC foe, North Carolina, there, but the Tar Heels had no answer for Langhorne. 

The center scored 23 points on 10-for-12 shooting and led her team to the national championship game, where they had a date with another ACC rival, the Duke Blue Devils. 

All five starters for Maryland, including Langhorne, scored double figures in a 78-75 overtime win for the Terps and the first national championship in program history. 

Langhorne was involved in one of the most iconic plays from that game as she set the screen that freed Kristi Toliver and gave her enough space to knock down the game-tying three at the end of regulation. 

Even for a star like Langhorne, she relished doing the dirty work and setting up her teammates, even if it meant that someone else would get the glory. 

The memories of that game will live on forever in the mind of both Langhorne and Maryland fans who are lucky enough to remember it. Even 15 years later, Langhorne remembers those feelings like it was yesterday.

“I remember we were just all jumping on the court,” she said. “I remember someone threw the ball in the air, and it might have been Ashleigh Newman. We were just all jumping and so happy that we actually won.”

Langhorne would finish her Maryland career as one of the most iconic Terps of all time. She graduated as the team’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Langhorne, her teammate Marissa Coleman and Alyssa Thomas, who came through the program a few years later, are the only men’s or women’s players in school history with over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. 

Her jersey hangs high in the rafters of XFINITY Center, and it was honored on Senior Day, making her the first student-athlete in school history to have his or her number honored while still active. A successful WNBA career followed, with Langhorne winning two WNBA championships, then she was named the league’s Most Improved Player in 2009 and to the All-Star team twice (2011, 2013) with the Washington Mystics.

In 2020, Langhorne played her final season as a pro and did so inside the WNBA bubble during the COVID-19 pandemic. Langhorne and the Storm overcame the obstacles through the pandemic to win their second WNBA Championship.

Thankfully for her, she had her teammates and her fellow Terp family to stay with and lean on. 

“I would see Kaila [Charles], [Alyssa Thomas], Tianna [Hawkins], and Bri Jones a lot in the bubble, so I just chatted up with them,” she said. “That was our life in the bubble. I said we needed to take a picture just for the memories and just for Maryland with all of them there. We’re all Terps, even the players who were younger than me. I will always speak to other Maryland players.”

Langhorne’s list of accomplishments is lengthy, and she is still adding to it as she is now going into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2021. 

With many people telling her that she was making a mistake by playing for Maryland and Brenda Frese, Langhorne is honored to be the first player from one of Frese’s teams to enter the storied Hall of Fame. 

“When [Coach Frese] first came to Maryland, she said she was gonna rebuild the program,” Langhorne said. “When I look at the program now, and how they have sustained this level of play for so long, I'm just extremely proud to be an alum and to have my place in the Maryland history books.”  

For Langhorne, being a Terp means a lot to her. To be considered one of the greats in the university’s history regardless of sport is an accolade that means a lot. She has seen her jersey go up into the rafters, but seeing her name on the Hall of Fame will be a whole new feeling. 

“I would say gratitude [is what I’m feeling],” she said. “The fact that I've been able to have a career like this, where I'm being honored in this way. And just, the joy I feel that I'll be in there forever.”