Terps struggle, beat Tigers

CLEMSON, S.C. | Marissa Coleman can’t understand why 12th-ranked Maryland looked so lifeless against Clemson on Thursday night.

Imagine how she would have felt had the Terps lost instead of leaving Littlejohn Coliseum with their eighth straight victory over the Tigers 65-56.

“It’s kind of hard to find any positives in this,” said Coleman, who scored 19 points to lead Maryland.

Still, it seemed odd that a Maryland team that seemed so alive in a tight 68-65 loss at Duke on Monday would bumble its way through this.

The Terps (14-3, 2-1 ACC) had hoped to tap into their fiery play from the other night to handle the Tigers (10-7, 1-3). But neither team showed any spunk, and the contest devolved into a battle to see who would make fewer mistakes.

Maryland finished with 22 turnovers and hit just three of 13 shots from behind the arc. It saw an early 13-point lead slip to 56-52 in the final minutes.

That’s when Coleman and Lynetta Kizer, who scored 15 points, took control and made sure the Terps didn’t start 1-2 in the league for the first time in six seasons.

When the Terps opened up a 23-10 lead, the game looked like it might turn into a rerun of last season’s 110-46 Maryland victory.

Instead, the improved Tigers took advantage of Maryland’s lackluster play to get within striking distance, trailing just 51-47 on Lele Hardy’s 3-pointer with 2:48 left.

Kizer made two foul shots to extend Maryland’s margin. Then, after Hardy followed with another 3, the Terps answered with a pair of free throws from Kristi Toliver and a 3-pointer by Coleman that made it 59-52 in the last minute.

“This was a tough game,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We barely hung on tonight. I am very disappointed in how we played.”

Frese expected her club to come out with the crispness it showed at Duke, a matchup of ranked teams who regularly contend for the top spot of the ACC.

Coleman acknowledged that remembering the Clemson game of a year ago may have contributed to her team’s malaise.

It also could have been the time on the road. Maryland bused to Clemson soon after the Duke loss and has spent the past few days working out and touring the area.

Story Continues →