March 18, 2004
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
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Making its 13th overall appearance, the Terrapin women's basketball team travels to Baton Rouge, La., to face Miami (Fla.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 21 at 7 p.m. ET. Maryland is the 12th seed in the West Region and the Hurricanes have been seeded fifth. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Maryland (17-12) will participate in its first NCAA Tournament since 2001, but played the Hurricanes (22-6) last year in Miami's Holiday Classic. The Canes went away with a 97-66 win and the Terps will be looking to avenge that loss. This will be the last meeting between the teams as non-conference opponents.
This year's trip to the NCAA Tournament is also Maryland's 18th, having made five trips to the AIAW tournament and one to the WNIT. Maryland has a storied history in postseason play. The Terps reached the national championship game in 1978 and, in the first year of the NCAA Tournament, advanced to the Final Four in 1982. In the NCAA Tournament, the Terps own a 12-12 record, advancing to the Final Four twice, the Elite Eight four times and the Sweet Sixteen six times.
Miami is making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance and its second in a row. The Hurricanes are coming off of a loss to Boston College in the Big East Tournament.
Maryland mentor Brenda Frese is making her second trip to the Big Dance as a head coach. She led Minnesota to the second round of the tournament in 2002. Frese has led the Terps to an amazing turnaround, guiding Maryland into a tie in the ACC standings after it was picked eighth in a preseason poll by the media. The Terps also doubled their conference win total from each of the last two seasons, going 8-8.
The Terps are led by a duo of freshmen in Shay Doron (Great Neck, N.Y./Christ the King) and Kalika France (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) Both lead the team in scoring, with Doron pacing the Maryland offense with 13 points per game. France is behind her with 11.7 ppg and is the team's top rebounder at 6.0 rpg. Doron becamse the first freshman in Maryland history to be named to an All-ACC squad when she was named third team all-conference. She was also named first team All-ACC Tournament. France garnered Honorable Mention All-ACC, as was senior Delvona Oliver (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid) who was also selected to the All-ACC Tournament second team.
The winner of the Maryland-Miami matchup goes on to face the winner of the LSU-Austin Peay first-round contest. LSU was tabbed the fourth seed in the region, while the Lady Govs are a No. 13 seed. The second-round game will be played on Tuesday, March 23.
