Terp women come up just short

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Terrapin women's basketball team's third loss of the season to No. 9 Duke may prove the most costly.

With their 66-64 loss to the Blue Devils (25-5, 12-2 ACC) in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Friday, the Terps (19-12, 5-9) will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven seasons. They came to Greensboro Coliseum needing at least two wins to secure a bid in the 64-team field, according to analysts. They came within a missed shot Friday of doing just that.

With Duke up two points, Blue Devils' forward Joy Cheek missed a jumper that would have put the game out of reach. Terps' guard Jackie Nared corralled the rebound with under seven seconds remaining before dribbling upcourt.

With several seconds still remaining on the clock, Nared pulled up and launched an errant 40-footer that rung off the backboard. Forward Diandra Tchatchouang collected the miss, but the buzzer sounded before she could get off a game-tying effort.

Center Lynetta Kizer and guard Anjale Barrett led the Terps with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Duke first-team All-ACC guard Jasmine Thomas had 21 points and five 3-pointers for the Blue Devils, shaking off a 3-for-15 shooting performance against the Terps in a 71-59 victory in Durham, N.C. on Feb. 21.

The Blue Devils also won, 58-57, in a Jan. 24 meeting at Comcast Center.

The Terps, who beat No. 8 seed North Carolina on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals, led by as many as 11 points early in the first half before Duke climbed back to take a 37-32 lead.

The Blue Devils remained ahead until two Lori Bjork free throws gave the Terps a 63-62 lead with 2:29 remaining. Two free throws from Duke's Bridgette Mitchell 10 seconds later gave the lead back to Duke, who smothered the Terps defensively in the decisive final stretch.

For more coverage, go to Terrapintrail.com, the official sports blog of The Diamondback. For a full recap of Friday's game, check out Diamondbackonline.com on Monday.

shaffer@umdbk.com