Notebook: Defense manning up lately for women's basketball

At times this season, the Terrapin women's basketball team has struggled to find its defensive identity. Despite an obvious advantage in length over nearly every opponent, the No. 14 Terps have occasionally appeared disjointed defensively, in turn hampering their dynamic transition game.

But after stumbling past Virginia on Friday in overtime, it seems that the Terps have found their way. With roughly 10 minutes remaining in Charlottesville, Va., the Terps switched from their customary 2-3 zone into man-to-man coverage and were able to withstand a Cavalier comeback bid.

Sunday, the man-to-man defense again led the Terps to victory, this time against No. 15 North Carolina. The team never let the nation's No. 7 scoring offense get comfortable, holding the Tar Heels — who average 82 points per game — to just 65 points.

"With us being so long it gives teams problems," coach Brenda Frese said after Sunday's win. "Both halves started with our defense and that led to more offense. We want to continue to focus on the defensive end."

That defensive pressure not only helped the Terps limit North Carolina on the score sheet but also translated to perhaps the team's best transition effort of the year. The Terps had 16 points off turnovers, and while many of their points didn't come off true fast breaks, they rarely gave the Tar Heels time to set their defense.

FRESHMEN STEP UP

Freshman forward Alyssa Thomas, who was named ACC Rookie of the Week on Monday for the fourth time this season, has lived up to her billing as the top catch of the Terps' second-ranked recruiting class.

But while Thomas continues to establish herself among the conference's top players, leading the Terps in both scoring and rebounding and dominating in transition, her classmates appear to be coming into their own as well.

Center Alicia DeVaughn continues to prove vital for the Terps off the bench. At 6-foot-4, the athletic DeVaughn has been a force in the paint, pulling down more than six rebounds per game despite limited action.

DeVaughn helped the team jump out to a 12-point halftime lead Sunday over the Tar Heels, showing poise around the basket to pile up 12 first-half points.

"As a freshman, it is all starting to come together," Frese said. "Alicia was huge in the first half, simply flawless. She did a good job reading cuts and letting the game come to her."

"It was a great confidence-booster for me," added a smiling DeVaughn after the win.

While DeVaughn may have stolen the show, she was not the only newcomer to help the Terps to their best victory of the year. Freshman guard Laurin Mincy, a McDonald's All-American last season, put in one of her best performances of the year with 10 points and five rebounds while shooting with confidence against one of the nation's top teams.

3-POINT TURNAROUND?

The Terps' performance from beyond the arc this season has been, at best, forgettable. They entered last weekend hitting a conference-worst 26 percent of their 3-point attempts.

And while much of Friday's game at Virginia followed a similar path, with the Terps missing their first seven outside attempts, it was the eighth and final 3-pointer that mattered. With 13.8 seconds remaining in the second half and the Terps trailing by three, forward Diandra Tchatchouang delivered, knocking down a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime, where the Terps would prevail.

That shot may have revived the Terps' outside game. They hit their first three 3-point attempts against North Carolina on Sunday and five of 11 total to help drop the Tar Heels.

Frese attributed Sunday's shooting success — the Terps also had a banner day at the free-throw line, where they've struggled with consistency — to an increased level of confidence.

"Coming from behind in the Virginia game to get a victory was huge, and I could see that in our practice [Saturday]," Frese said. "We're starting to see this team come together with our confidence level."

cwalsh@umdbk.com