DUKE 59, MARYLAND 77, FINAL: That does it here at the Comcast Center. Duke will drop to third place in the ACC and Maryland moves to second place outright. Toliver came up one point shy of her career high, pouring in 34 thanks to seven 3-pointers and 12-21 shooting. With her 24 points, Marissa Coleman became the 8th player in UMD history with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Overall, Maryland shot 62.5% in the second half, and outscored Duke 46-26 in the period. The Terps outrebounded the Blue Devils 43-38 and dominated them in transition, leading 10-0 in fastbreak points.
Chante Black and Carrem Gay led Duke with 13 points each, but the Blue Devils relied too heavily on the 3-pointer in the second half, shooting only 3-12 from deep in the second period. 10 second half turnovers did nothing to help Duke's cause either. Yet, it would have been difficult for any team to stop Coleman and Toliver tonight, as they would not be denied coming out of the halftime break.
All in all, it was not a good weekend for Tobacco Road teams in College Park.
DUKE 59, MARYLAND 77, 54.6: Duke cannot get any 3-pointers to fall, effectively eliminating any chance of a comeback. Toliver and Coleman just exited the game to a well-deserved standing ovation. The fans seem to have taken a cue from the two senior standouts, as they have begun to exit the stadium as well.
DUKE 53, MARYLAND 71, 3:54: The Terrapins are hitting on all cylinders now, scoring with ease and forcing the Blue Devils into bad shots. Toliver is handling Duke's zone press with poise, calmly eluding a double-team and slicing her way to the basket, getting fouled in the process. Coleman knocked down another jumper from the foul line, receiving a floating lob pass that sailed over the heads of Duke's guards at the top of the Blue Devil press.
DUKE 46, MARYLAND 62, 7:58: Toliver is 7-12 from 3-point range and has 31 points, four shy of her career high. Coleman has 13 second-half points and just torched Duke's interior defense for an easy fastbreak layup. The Blue Devils experimented with a zone full-court press, but the Terps were unfazed. Maryland is turning up the heat in transition as well, streaking down the court after every defensive rebound.
A Duke travel just resulted in another timeout and the fans are out of their seats once again. The Blue Devils seem content to settle for contested 3-pointers, and even when they get offensive boards, they have not found a way to get easy tip-ins, letting the Terps swat the ball away.
DUKE 44, MARYLAND 53, 11:46: 3-point shooting seems to be contagious at the Comcast Center tonight, as Keturah Jackson and Carrem Gay buried shots from beyond the arc on Duke's last two possessions. Maryland is still on a 22-11 run, but the Blue Devils will look to build on their six unanswered points when they head back out onto the hardwood. In order to do so, they will need to cut down on turnovers and reestablish Black in the paint.
DUKE 38, MARYLAND 50, 13:50: Keturah Jackson's 3-pointer takes some of the sting out of Maryland's 14-2 run, but the Terps show no signs of slowing down. Toliver knocked down another 3-pointer out of the timeout, giving her 25 on the night. Coleman seems reenergized as well and ready to take some of the scoring load off of her teammate's shoulders, knocking down a baseline jumper of her own on the Terps' next possession. Consecutive Duke turnovers have given the Blue Devils no chance to turn the tide.
DUKE 33, MARYLAND 41, 17:35: The crowd is on its feet as Maryland jumps out to a 10-0 run out of the break. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Toliver and Coleman forced Coach McCallie to call a timeout as the Duke offense looks stagnant.
DUKE 33, MARYLAND 31, HALFTIME: Bridgette Mitchell got an easy layup off of an offensive board to give the Blue Devils a 2-point cushion heading into halftime. Toliver's long 3-pointer fell short as the buzzer sounded, but the senior guard is singlehandedly keeping her team in the game with 17 points at the break. Duke has countered with a balanced scoring attack. Gay leads the team with 8, while Jasmine Thomas and Black put up 6 apiece.
The Blue Devils pride themselves on rebounding and usually surpass their opponents in this statistical category, but the Terps hold a 23-21 advantage on the boards, boasting a 9-6 margin on the offensive glass.
Duke has forced 9 turnovers but has only managed to score 6 points as a result. The outcome of the game will hinge on the Blue Devils' ability to shut down Toliver and maintain their advantage in points in the paint (18-8).
As a side note, UMD's gymnastics team provided halftime entertainment, but I'm willing to bet some Cameron Crazies would argue that G could fly higher even without a trampoline.
DUKE 31, MARYLAND 30, 1:00: Marissa Coleman could not convert a 3-point play and Jasmine Thomas made her pay at the other end, scoring on a tough drive to the hoop. Toliver made her presence felt again on the Terps' next possession, burying a long jumper. Joy Cheek just committed an offensive foul, giving Maryland a chance to take the lead in the final minute of the first half. The techno is blasting yet again...
DUKE 25, MARYLAND 25, 4:05: Duke's post players—Black and Cheek—are shutting down the paint, swatting away the Terps' layups. Maryland is getting plenty of open looks on the perimeter, but cannot knock them down. Toliver has been quiet in the last four minutes, and Duke is relying on the foul line for point production.
DUKE 19, MARYLAND 20, 8:46: Toliver leads the Terps with 13 points, going 3-4 from beyond the arc. Duke's shooting has cooled off considerably. If the Blue Devils can contain Toliver from here on out, however, they should be in good shape. Their tenacious man-to-man defense has created turnovers, but the team has not been able to capitalize on those takeaways in transition.
DUKE 12, MARYLAND 6, 14:53: Toliver knocked down her first and only 3-point attempt thus far, but Duke is shooting lights-out on the other end (6-for-9). Carrem Gay has six points early, and the Blue Devils are getting to the rim with ease.
MORE PREGAME: Maryland Athletics has apparently created its own word to describe the kind of sportsmanship its athletes and fans exhibit: "Terpness." Toliver and Dave Neal from the men's team both just appeared on the jumbotron and exhorted the fans to show a little "Terpness" as they watch today's game. Now that's what I call creativity...
Meanwhile, the Comcast Center just morphed into a giant rave as Maryland's starters were announced. The lights went out, the fans whipped out their glow sticks, and "Listen to Your Heart" began blasting over the sound system.
Duke's starting line-up this evening: Jasmine Thomas, Chante Black, Abby Waner, Carrem Gay, and Bridgette Mitchell
PREGAME: We're here at the cavernous Comcast Center in College Park, MD as No. 7 Duke gets ready to take on No. 9 Maryland. Both squads are tied for second in the ACC with conference records of 9-2. The last time these two teams met on January 12, the Blue Devils pulled out a 68-65 victory after Kristi Toliver, the Terrapins' leading scorer, missed what would have been the game-tying 3-pointer with around 10 seconds remaining in regulation.
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