March 28, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland women's basketball recruits Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver will play in the 4th annual McDonald's All-America High School Basketball game on March 30 in South Bend, Ind. The game airs on a tape delay basis on ESPN2 on Thursday, March 31 at 5:30 p.m. Both Coleman and Toliver, who signed National Letters of Intent to play for Terrapin head coach Brenda Frese beginning the 2005-06 campaign, will also play in the WBCA High School All-America game April 2 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Coleman (Cheltenham, Md.) and Toliver (Harrisonburg, Va.) make up the nation's fourth-best recruiting class in the nation. Coleman attends St. John's High School in Washington, D.C. A 6-1 guard, she averaged 20.4 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a senior, en route to Gatorade Player of the Year honors for the second-consecutive season. Last summer, she was a teammate of current Terp Laura Harper (Elkins Park, Pa./Cheltenham) on the gold medal-winning USA Junior World Championship qualifying team.
A 5-8 point guard, Toliver (Harrisonburg, Va.) averaged 28.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game during her senior season at Harrisonburg High School. Recently named Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year, she was a member of the USA Youth Development Festival East Team in 2004. Toliver was also named AP AA Virginia Player of the Year as a junior and was a first team all-state honoree the last two seasons.
Coleman and Toliver follow in the footsteps of current Terps Harper, Crystal Langhorne, and Shay Doron, who all participated in the McDonald's All-America game prior to their arrival in College Park.
Langhorne and Harper also played in the WBCA All-America game in 2004. Doron and Langhorne were two-time Gatorade High School Players of the Year in the state of New York and New Jersey, respectively, while Kalika France (2003) and Harper (2004) also garnered Gatorade Player of the Year honors for their home states.
Since her arrival three years ago, Frese has signed back-to-back top-five recruiting classes while snagging top-10 classes all three years. She has guided the Terps to consecutive NCAA Tournament second-round appearances in 2004-05. Last year, Maryland surprised many when it finished in a tie for third place in the ACC. This season, the Terps posted their first win over a top-five opponent in 12 years when they defeated ACC Champion North Carolina, who reached the NCAA Elite Eight last weekend, on Jan. 9.
Frese led the Terps to a 22-10 season in 2004-05, the most wins since 1992-93. Along the way, two Terrapins earned All-ACC honors (Doron, first team; Langhorne, second team) and Langhorne was voted the ACC's Rookie of the Year, the first Terp since 1991 to earn the honor.
