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DURHAM, N.C. - Sunday was a big day for the Terrapin women's basketball team.
Several hours after coach Brenda Frese gave birth to twin baby boys, the No. 4 Terps held on to beat their archrival, No. 12 Duke, in Durham, N.C. for the first time since 2000.
After opening up two double-digit leads in an extremely hostile atmosphere at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Terps (27-2, 11-1 ACC) nearly succumbed to the Blue Devils' (19-7, 8-3) relentless defensive pressure in the second half, but were able to come away with a 76-69 win.
Senior forward Crystal Langhorne led the Terps with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and junior guard Kristi Toliver had 23 points despite committing 12 turnovers trying to run the point against the Blue Devils' pressure defense.
"What an unbelievable accomplishment that this team did today," assistant coach Daron Park said.
The Terps built their first sizable lead in the first half by consistently feeding the ball inside to Langhorne and senior forward Laura Harper.
The Blue Devils had little answer for Langhorne, especially early on, as the All-American racked up 14 points in the first half.
"Obviously, every time we step on the court we want to establish an inside-out game," Park said. "We got both Crystal and Laura some touches early. That got them rolling a little bit."
Toliver contributed two big threes early that helped quiet the crowd, giving a quick celebratory spin move after one and giving the crowd a prolonged stare after the other.
"I'm really sick of Toliver's threes," Blue Devils junior guard Abby Waner said.
The Terps led by as much as 14 late in the first half and led 41-33 at halftime.
Toliver fed junior forward Marissa Coleman for an alley-oop layup to start the second half, but then the Terps' offense became stagnant as the Blue Devils began to ratchet up the defensive intensity.
The Terps took most of the shot clock to get into their offense and were unable to get the ball into the post as easily as in the first half.
Toliver momentarily kept the charging Blue Devils at bay when she began to heat up again from long-range, knocking down two more threes and a long two, with a defender in her face each time, to give the Terps a 57-44 advantage with 12:05 remaining.
"To just keep doing it until somebody stops it is kind of the mentality I had," Toliver said. "I was just extremely focused and obviously extremely aggressive going to the basket."
A quick 7-0 run by the Blue Devils re-energized the crowd, and the Terps continued to struggle offensively against the Blue Devils' pressure.
The Terps had to battle to bring the ball up each time up the court with varying success.
They seemed to choose among turning it over in the backcourt, turning it over in the frontcourt and somehow finding a way to get to the basket to score a tough hoop.
Toliver took the brunt of the Blue Devils' tenacious play.
"Obviously, they were extremely physical with me," Toliver said. "Give credit to them; they did an extremely good job pressuring. I think I had a double-double tonight - [23 points] with 12 turnovers."
The Blue Devils eventually cut the lead to as small as five and continued forcing turnovers in the final minute after the Terps had stretched the lead back to 10, but the Terps escaped with the 76-69 win.
Coupled with the Terps' 85-70 win Jan. 14 at Comcast Center, Sunday's win gives the Terps their first regular-season sweep against the Blue Devils since 1993.
"We feel great about that, Harper said. "Yes, the monkey is off our back, but this is a very tough, well-coached Duke team. I know they'll be ready; they're going to bounce back,e and we might end up seeing them again. It's going to be an equally tough fight."
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