Langhorne passes 2000-point career milestone in Terp blowout of Miami

Before last night's game against Miami, senior forward Crystal Langhorne needed just two points to become the first player in Terrapin women's basketball history to score 2,000 for her career.

Langhorne took care of the personal accomplishment on the No.-5 Terps' first possession of the game, then went about helping her team dominate the Hurricanes.

Langhorne's milestone two - the first of her game-high 19 points - came on a jumper from the right elbow, and the Terps (23-2, 7-1 ACC) coasted to a 90-50 win over the hapless Hurricanes (8-13, 1-5).

"Just a special milestone," coach Brenda Frese said. "It speaks to Crystal and what she's been able to do for this program. Her ability, obviously, to put the ball in the basket, but - and I know Crystal will tell you the same thing - it doesn't happen without great teammates."

Langhorne is only the seventh women's player in ACC history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

Frese presented her with the game ball, and the six-foot-two-inch Langhorne was promptly picked up by senior forward Jade Perry and briefly hoisted onto Perry and others' shoulders.

"I don't know what they were thinking," Langhorne said, smiling. "I think they planned it."

Junior guard Kristi Toliver also reached a personal milestone against the Hurricanes, surpassing 500 career assists and finishing with 10 on the night to put her into second place on the Terps' all-time list with 508.

She is 75 away from tying the record, held by Debbie Lytle.

"She's trying to get a [game] ball too," Frese said of her star point guard.

The Hurricanes kept it close early on, forcing the frustrated Terps to take a timeout with the game tied 14-14 about six minutes in.

But by halftime, it looked like the Hurricanes were more preoccupied with getting home to the warm weather of Florida than with staying competitive.

The Terps closed the first half on a time-consuming 20-5 run to take a comfortable 44-23 lead into halftime.

The Hurricanes scored just five points in the last 8:24 of the half, and were held scoreless for the final 4:15.

"Their talent was overwhelming," Hurricanes coach Katie Meier said, "and our response, I did not think, was tough enough."

It was more of the same in the second half, as the Terps steadily put more distance between them and the Hurricanes.

The Terps played an excellent game defensively, forcing 24 turnovers and allowing the Hurricanes to get to the foul line only four times the entire night.

"I'm very, very pleased in terms of what we were able to do on the defensive end," Frese said. "Our defense dictated everything that we did tonight."

As anticipated, the Terps were able to work in all 10 of their healthy players last night, a luxury they were unable to afford in several closer games throughout the month.

Freshman guard Kat Lyons played especially well in extended time running the point, knocking down two three-pointers and finishing with eight points in 24 minutes.

Toliver, Langhorne and senior forward Laura Harper had their warm-up jerseys on during the last few minutes, as the Terps' starting five watched the end of the game from the bench.

"We're definitely continuing to evaluate where our depth, is because we feel like we need to be able to have that," Frese said. "It's also a credit to Kat and [freshman forward] Drey [Mingo] because they've had two of their best practices coming into this game. … They are doing some valuable things for us and we need them to."

Last night, the Terps as a whole did everything they needed to.

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