Terps overcome fatigue in victory

Seven games in two weeks is a rough task for any team - add a Thanksgiving weekend West Coast road trip, and a letdown last night against Pitt seemed like a possibility.

But from the tip, the undefeated Terrapin women's basketball team didn't look very tired at all.

The Terps, who took a red-eye flight home from Los Angeles on Sunday night after narrowly defeating UCLA, started Tuesday's game with nine straight points. And with 10 minutes left in the first half, they had already amassed a 15-point lead on their way to a 90-77 win.

"I thought we looked like we're pretty much on a WNBA whirlwind tour right now with the schedule that we're playing," said coach Brenda Frese.

The Terps out-rebounded the Panthers 43 to 29 and hit 30 of 36 free throws - indications that arriving in College Park at 9 a.m. Monday did not faze the team.

But after the game, Frese and the players admitted the cross-country travel did affect them.

"I thought we let the fatigue factor play into their hands," Frese said. "We're disappointed in that."

Frese didn't make a substitution until almost four minutes into the contest, when she inserted senior forward Jade Perry for senior center Crystal Langhorne, who made her first start since the Nov. 11 game against Oklahoma.

Junior point guard Kristi Toliver looked like her usual self, triggering fast breaks and dishing out four assists. She had 20 points with two three-pointers.

"It was definitely challenging," Toliver said when asked if she felt tired during the game. "It definitely showed down the stretch; we look forward to a day off tomorrow."

The closest the Panthers - who hadn't played since beating Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 20 - got was within eight points with 13 minutes left in the second half.

"We put this schedule together because we wanted to be challenged," Frese said. "I could see [fatigue] in their faces when they arrived back. Being able to see us grit it out was good."

Despite Frese's concerns, toward the end of the game it was the Terps who looked like the more rested team, as they pushed their lead to 20 with two minutes left.

"There's a reason they are No. 3 in the nation," Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said of the Terps. "They're not gonna roll over for anyone."

akrautdbk@gmail.com