Feb. 10, 2005
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By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - It would have been easy for Maryland to look past Wake Forest toward Sunday's showdown against No. 3 Duke.
Instead, the 19th-ranked Terrapins kept their attention on the task at hand, and the result was a 77-67 victory Thursday night that gave them a boost of confidence heading into their matchup against the Atlantic Coast Conference leaders.
"Now we can definitely focus on Duke," said Maryland guard Shay Doron, one of four Terrapins to score in double figures against Wake Forest.
The Terrapins, who are seeking to shatter the single-game ACC attendance record of 14,500 on Sunday, already have distributed more than 15,000 tickets to the contest.
Maryland (17-5, 6-4 ACC) has won four straight since falling to the Blue Devils 60-57 on the road late last month. Now, the Terps get a chance for revenge.
"There's definitely been a lot of hoopla for the game," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "I think our team is excited, and will be ready to play."
Against Wake Forest, Crystal Langhorne scored 15 points, and Jade Perry and Ashleigh Newman had 12 apiece. Langhorne and Doron have carried the Terps' offense for much of the season, but recently they've been getting plenty of help.
"It makes it much harder to game-plan for us," Doron said. "It proves we have more than a two-dimensional offense."
It certainly was too much for Wake Forest, which fell to 12-44 against Maryland in the series that began in 1977.
"They're a real good offensive team," Demon Deacons coach Mike Petersen said. "They've got great balance; they can score in the lane and score in the perimeter."
Liz Strunk and Porsche Jones each scored 18, and Erin Ferrell had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Demon Deacons (13-9, 2-7), who have lost four in a row.
Up 41-32 at halftime, the Terrapins held the Demon Deacons scoreless for the opening 4 minutes of the second half in upping the margin to 15.
Wake Forest scored eight straight points to close to 53-46 before two free throws by Aurelie Noirez and a layup by Perry sparked a 10-0 surge that made it 63-46 with 9:21 remaining.
The Demon Deacons cut the gap to 8, but could get no closer.
Langhorne had 12 points in the first half on 6-for-9 shooting, and the Terrapins shot 54 percent from the floor to take control.
Strunk scored 11 first-half points and Wake's leading scorer, Cotelia Bond-Young, hit a desperation 22-footer at the buzzer _ her only basket before halftime.
Bond-Young, who came in averaging 16.6 points, finished with nine points on 3-for-14 shooting, including 3-for-11 from beyond the arc.
"They did a real good job guarding her," Petersen said. "A number of her attempts were under duress."
