2008 Woodie Awards
Frese surprise visit sparks Terps
Greg Schimmel
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Sports
RALEIGH, N.C. - When Laura Harper heard coach Brenda Frese's voice in the locker room Sunday, the senior forward thought it must have been a recording.
Frese gave birth to twin boys Feb. 17, and hadn't traveled to a road game since December, but after assistant coach Daron Park gave a speech before the No. 5 Terps' 76-64 win over N.C. State, Frese made her surprise appearance.
"Coach Park gave us our matchups, and we were about to bring it in, and Coach B just walks in and says 'Let's play Maryland basketball,'" Harper said. "It was really nice."
Frese had spent the past week at home with her sons, but when she started to feel like she'd be up to it midweek - and when she was able to book a flight for Sunday morning so she wouldn't have to spend a night away from home - Frese decided to make the trip.
"Nice-early morning wake-up call at 4:30, which I'm used to now with the feedings," Frese said. "Able to get down here [Sunday] morning at about 10:30 to get here for the [1 p.m.] game."
With Park prowling the sidelines, Frese watched from the bench as the Terps were extremely physical from the start against Wolfpack senior forward Khadijah Whittington, succeeding early on in taking the Wolfpack's leading scorer - and one of the best players in the ACC - off her game.
Guarded mostly by Harper and senior forward Jade Perry, Whittington became increasingly frustrated in the first half, and the Wolfpack offense went out of sync as the Terps took an early lead.
"Obviously we all know how special Kadijah is, and she's just a difficult matchup," Frese said. "You're not going to completely stop her, but just try to make every shot a little more difficult."
After taking an inadvertent elbow to the nose, Whittington continually waved off attempts to pass the ball inside to her on one possession, yelling "I can't see, I can't see."
The Terps' offense fed off their defense, and the Terps went on 11-0 and 8-0 runs in the first half, stretching their lead to 18 at one point before the Wolfpack started to come back.
Frese gave birth to twin boys Feb. 17, and hadn't traveled to a road game since December, but after assistant coach Daron Park gave a speech before the No. 5 Terps' 76-64 win over N.C. State, Frese made her surprise appearance.
"Coach Park gave us our matchups, and we were about to bring it in, and Coach B just walks in and says 'Let's play Maryland basketball,'" Harper said. "It was really nice."
Frese had spent the past week at home with her sons, but when she started to feel like she'd be up to it midweek - and when she was able to book a flight for Sunday morning so she wouldn't have to spend a night away from home - Frese decided to make the trip.
"Nice-early morning wake-up call at 4:30, which I'm used to now with the feedings," Frese said. "Able to get down here [Sunday] morning at about 10:30 to get here for the [1 p.m.] game."
With Park prowling the sidelines, Frese watched from the bench as the Terps were extremely physical from the start against Wolfpack senior forward Khadijah Whittington, succeeding early on in taking the Wolfpack's leading scorer - and one of the best players in the ACC - off her game.
Guarded mostly by Harper and senior forward Jade Perry, Whittington became increasingly frustrated in the first half, and the Wolfpack offense went out of sync as the Terps took an early lead.
"Obviously we all know how special Kadijah is, and she's just a difficult matchup," Frese said. "You're not going to completely stop her, but just try to make every shot a little more difficult."
After taking an inadvertent elbow to the nose, Whittington continually waved off attempts to pass the ball inside to her on one possession, yelling "I can't see, I can't see."
The Terps' offense fed off their defense, and the Terps went on 11-0 and 8-0 runs in the first half, stretching their lead to 18 at one point before the Wolfpack started to come back.
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