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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland, ranked No. 1 in the Raleigh Region, will play in its 18th NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament beginning with Sunday's game versus No. 16 Dartmouth at Comcast Center. Tip-off is scheduled for approximately 2:30 p.m. ET.
ESPN and its family of networks will televise all 63 games of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament. Sunday's Maryland-Dartmouth game can be seen in its entirety on ESPN in Maryland and the surrounding areas, while whip-around coverage will be utilized in all other areas. Terp fans living out of the market can view the game in its entirety on ESPN360.com or by subscribing to ESPN Full Court, the out-of-market pay-per-view package that will broadcast all first- and second-round games. Click the link above to see ESPN's coverage map of first-round action. A link is also available to access ESPN360.com.
Maryland (28-4, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) will make its sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and will open play at Comcast Center for the second straight year. The Terps-Big Green first-round matchup will follow No. 8 Villanova versus No. 9 Utah, which is set to tip-off at noon on ESPN2.
The Terps are one of the hottest teams in the nation entering NCAA play, having won 12 straight games and 15 of their last 16 contests. Ranked third in both major polls, Maryland won the ACC Tournament thanks to wins over Wake Forest, No. 11 North Carolina and No. 8 Duke in Greensboro, N.C., from March 6-8. Maryland also clinched the ACC's regular-season title to claim both league championships for the first time in 20 years.
The ACC champion Terps will face the Ivy League champion Big Green (18-10, 13-1 Ivy League) for the first time in history. The game will feature the teams' respective conference players of the year as Dartmouth sophomore forward Brittney Smith, the Ivy League Player of the Year (14.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg), will face off against Maryland senior guard and ACC Player of the Year Kristi Toliver (18.4 ppg, 5.0 apg).
Toliver and fellow senior Marissa Coleman will look to bookend their careers with national championships after claiming the 2006 NCAA title as freshmen. The duo each has reached the 2,000-point plateau and is the winningest class in Maryland history (123-18).
Coleman, the 2009 ACC Tournament MVP, has been one of the most potent players in the country the last month of the season. During the Terps' current 12-game win streak, she leads the team in scoring (22.3 ppg), rebounding (8.6 rpg), field goal percentage (57 pct), free throws made-attempted (76-for-92) and steals (1.9 spg).
In 12 career NCAA games, Coleman has averaged 13.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Toliver, in the same number of games, owns a career average of 16.3 points and 6.2 assists per NCAA contest.
Maryland is 24-16 (.600) in its previous 17 NCAA appearances and has won five straight first-round games. The 2009 tournament marks the second straight year that the Terps received a No. 1 seed (third in school history). In NCAA games in College Park, Maryland is 9-2.
Terrapin head coach Brenda Frese, in her seventh season at Maryland, owns an NCAA Tournament record of 13-5 (1-1 in 2002 NCAA Tournament at Minnesota).
Maryland faced 12 teams this season that qualified for the 2009 NCAA Tournament and went 12-4 against those schools.
Maryland has won a school-record 34 straight home games, dating back to the beginning of last season. The Terps' last non-conference home loss at Comcast Center was versus Ohio State in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, a string of 38 consecutive non-ACC wins at home.
The winners of Sunday's first-round games in College Park will meet in Tuesday's second round at 7 p.m. ET.
