Terps hoping to stay ‘on’

HARTFORD, Conn. — They talked about avoiding it and worked hard to eliminate it, but with a starting lineup of one 21-year-old and four 20-year-olds, sometimes what is preached and practiced is easily forgotten.

Such was the case with the Maryland women’s basketball team.

Still riding their heroics of last year, some players thought they could simply turn their games on when needed. Playing at unranked Middle Tennessee State to start the season? Semi-coast and win by four points. Facing No. 18 Michigan State at home? Crank it up a notch and win by 40.

“That’s what we thought we could do, to be honest,” sophomore Marissa Coleman said. “But you can’t turn that switch on and off and we realize that now.”

And although big-game results — losses to North Carolina and Duke — have been discouraging, the Terps feel they are set for another long NCAA tournament run, starting today against Harvard at the Hartford Civic Center.

In the rugged Dayton Region that features Tennessee, Oklahoma and Ohio State, the Terrapins know they’ll have to turn it on — and keep it on — throughout the next two weeks.

Maryland’s “B” or “C” game will probably be good enough against a Crimson team that is playing in the tournament for the first time in four years. But the Terps want to hit their stride early today, especially when returning from a 15-day layoff.

“In the preseason, we knew we would get everybody’s best shot. But as soon as the season started, we didn’t understand what that meant,” sophomore Kristi Toliver said. “The first game, against Middle Tennessee State, that was a wake up call. We knew then no game would be easy.”

Last year’s championship drew the attention of every opponent, produced heightened expectations from those on the program’s periphery and increased self-applied pressure.

For part of the nonconference season, Maryland tried to play perfect. The wins still came, but the style points were occasionally lacking. After starting the season 18-0, the Terps went 3-3 in their next six.

“We definitely haven’t played Maryland basketball at all this season,” Coleman said. “That’s been our biggest problem. But we kind of figured on that because we put so much pressure on ourselves, we tried to play perfect. We turned winning the title last year into pressure instead of using it to be confident.”

Junior Crystal Langhorne said the Terps haven’t won a big game all season and Toliver said the 97-57 win over Michigan State in January probably was the only time the Terps put together a full 40 minutes.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese acknowledged the flip-the-switch attitude was noticeable early in the season.

“Part of that shows their youth,” she said. “From our staff’s end, we had to continue to challenge them through film and practice to get them to understand that. Hopefully, it’s something we’ve outgrown and it will help us in the tournament.”

Toliver said the Terps learned their lesson during their first loss, an 81-62 decision at Duke on Jan. 13.

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