Langhorne leads women past GW in BTI finale

Junior center Crystal Langhorne hadn't played George Washington in her collegiate career yet, but she had seen Colonial guard Kimberly Beck and forward Whitney Allen before. The local players had all met playing pickup basketball during previous summers.

On the hardwood for their first official game against each other, Langhorne made a statement to her pickup peers. The preseason All-American wreaked havoc on the Colonials defense, scoring a season-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and led the No. 1-ranked Terrapin women's basketball team to a 73-48 win yesterday at Comcast Center.

"[Beck and Allen] are just really good players, but I think we knew a little about them," Langhorne said. "Just knowing them kind of helped us out a bit."

The Terps capped off a 3-0 weekend three-day run as part of the BTI Classic, and when all was said and done, Langhorne was crowned the tournament's MVP.

"She's obviously one of the best post players in the country, and she shows that each time she steps on the floor," coach Brenda Frese said of Langhorne.

In their first two games of the tournament against TCU and Arizona, the Terps got off to blazing starts, leading 16-0 against the Horned Frogs and 31-5 against the Wildcats. The team's production tailed off in the second half of each game, making the final scores more modest than the disparity on the court.

But against George Washington, the Terps played a complete game and waited until the second half to put their opponent away for good.

"I'm extremely excited how we played today against a very good GW team," Frese said. "We talked a lot about focusing for a 40-minute game, and we were really close to that tonight."

The Terps were slowed down on the offensive end during the first half of yesterday's game. As they struggled getting everybody in sync in transition, they turned to Langhorne, who carried them to a comfortable lead.

"The way they played defense today was just one-on-one in the post, and coach tells us when they play like that just to get the ball inside, and our guards did that," Langhorne said.

"It was one-on-one in the post, and she catches everything that you throw in there," Frese said. "She really gave us a dominant post presence."

Langhorne had 13 of her 20 points before halftime and was the only consistent force on offense until guard Shay Doron added five quick points to devastate the Colonials before the intermission.

"I'm still trying to grab it out of me. Those five points were big," Colonials coach Joe McKeown said. "I told our team, 'Let's get it under 10 with 10 [minutes] to go.' They just get you. They're just such a deceivingly good offensive team, and they force you to take shots earlier than you want to."

With George Washington still lingering around, the Terps went on a 9-0 run five minutes into the second half to put any hopes the Colonials had for an upset to rest. It was Doron again, who had a big 3-pointer to cap off the run. The senior scored 17 points, moving her up to fifth place on the Terps' all-time scoring list.

The Terps said they felt no ill-effects from playing three straight days. It is a task they hope to repeat in March when they enter the ACC tournament.

"The more games the better for us," said Doron, who was named to the all-tournament team. "The whole season is just a preparation for NCAA, ACC tournament time."

Contact reporter Mark Selig at mseligdbk@gmail.com.