Terrapins’ terrific play silences Commodores

Vanderbilt may have been trying to make like the Maryland of old – a young, fearless, nothing-to-lose underdog winner in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament – but it’s tough to copy the original.

Bigger, stronger and faster, top-seeded Maryland dominated the fourth-seeded Commodores 80-66 Saturday night in the Sweet 16 at the Arena with a tough inside game and a smothering, switching defense.

It was too much Crystal Langhorne inside, Marah Strickland outside, Marissa Coleman everywhere, Laura Harper on defense and unflappable general Kristi Toliver running the show for a veteran team trying to duplicate the magic of winning the 2006 national championship after a second-round loss last year.

All but Strickland, a freshman who had 13 points, were starters when Maryland won. The quintet combined for all but one point in the win that advances them into Monday night’s regional final against the Stanford Cardinal.

“I loved our defensive intensity and our hustle throughout the game,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We were ready to come out and play some of our best basketball. We did a tremendous job on the offensive end as well.”

Langhorne, a senior, had 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting and nine rebounds. Coleman, a junior, had 19 points on a variety of moves. Harper, a senior, had 11 points and started with the defensive assignment that harassed Christina Wirth, Vandy’s leading scorer, into 5-of-11 shooting. Toliver, a junior, had seven points, eight assists and just one turnover in 39 minutes.

“I know that we always go inside-out,” said Toliver, a 16.8-points-per-game scorer who was content to feed her teammates. “We have the best post players in the country and we were just trying to distribute to everybody. I felt like Tom Brady. Everybody was just connecting.”

“I thought (Toliver) was a floor general for us, really set the tone,” Frese said. “Her poise being able to get the amount of touches inside for Crystal was key. Crystal is obviously our go-to player.”

Vanderbilt was impressed.

“They have all the pieces to the puzzle,” Commodores coach Melanie Balcomb said. “I think that’s why they’re so dominating on the offensive side.”

The Terrapins (33-3) shot 51 percent and limited Vandy (25-9) to 39 percent. The difference in the first half when the game was decided as Maryland built a 44-29 lead was 55 percent to 35 percent.

“We didn’t give it our best effort tonight,” Balcomb said. “We got so good defensively and just didn’t come out with that intensity and dictate. We got down against too good of a team to really come back.”

Maryland rolled to a 15-point halftime lead with Langhorne scoring 16 points to build a 28-12 advantage on points in the paint. The lead was 21 points with 9 minutes remaining.

The Terps opened the game with an 11-2 run with Langhorne scoring six points, and then pushed it to double figures with a 14-2 surge that began with a three-point play by Harper at the midpoint. Strickland followed with her second 3 in less than 2 minutes and she capped it at the 4:42 mark with a drive that made it 34-16.

Vanderbilt’s drought ended when Wirth got her first points on a three-point play. But VU came no closer than 11, trailing 44-29 at the half when Tolliver drove for a three-point play with 18 seconds left – her first shot of the game.

“I thought, given the limited minutes Harper played because of foul trouble, she was really the energy and the spark on the defensive end,” Frese said. “I thought she was huge, especially with her play against Wirth. She’s very talented and I thought that Laura made her work for everything tonight.”

Wirth finished with 13 points but misfired on all five of her 3-point attempts after knocking down 71 this season.

“They were switching every time on pretty much all their screens, so I didn’t get very many open looks,” Wirth said. “The ones I did have I just didn’t knock down and that happens.”

Maryland 80, Vanderbilt 66

Vanderbilt (25-9)—Risper 2-10 4-5 8, Tuomi 3-5 2-2 8, Marsh 3-11 1-2 10, Rhoads 4-5 0-0 8, Wirth 5-11 3-3 13, Norton 1-1 0-0 2, Sherwood 3-3 0-0 6, Mooney 3-16 3-4 11. Totals 24-62 13-16 66.

Maryland (33-3)—Langhorne 12-18 4-6 28, Strickland 5-9 0-0 13, Coleman 7-14 4-4 19, Harper 2-6 7-9 11, Toliver 3-7 2-3 8, Marrone 0-0 0-0 0, Mingo 0-0 0-0 0, Lyons 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Perry 0-1 1-2 1, Newman 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 18-24 80.

Halftime—Maryland 44, Vanderbilt 29. 3-Point Goals—Vanderbilt 5-22 (Marsh 3-10, Mooney 2-7, Wirth 0-5), Maryland 4-14 (Strickland 3-5, Coleman 1-4, Newman 0-1, Toliver 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Vanderbilt 34 (Wirth 8), Maryland 37 (Langhorne 9). Assists—Vanderbilt 10 (Marsh 3), Maryland 14 (Toliver 8). Total Fouls—Vanderbilt 19, Maryland 17. A—NA.