Women's basketball waiting, and waiting, for action

After a disappointing loss in last week's ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the Terrapin women's basketball team only naturally began counting down the days until its chance at postseason redemption.

Unfortunately for the Terps, they'll have to wait until Monday to even figure out who their next opponent will be. And, only adding to the team's restlessness, the Terps will have to linger another six days before taking the court once more.

A 16-day break that stretches until their March 20 NCAA Tournament opener, though, may be just what the Terps need.

"For a coach, it's a great thing," coach Brenda Frese said. "It's a great thing in terms of being able to fine-tune some things.

"For the players," she added, laughing, "it's probably a bad thing."

While many of the Terps have already admitted impatience in the break's early stages, they also realize the time off can have its advantages.

"Getting bounced in the first round, nobody wants that," guard Anjale Barrett said. "[The break] has its downsides, but I think with this team it's a good thing because we get to get back in the gym and work on the things that we need to work on."

Although the Terps certainly have plenty to correct on the floor, having lost four of their past seven games, the most important lesson they can take from their early exit at the ACC Tournament may have come off the court.

That loss, Frese said, helped drive home the looming finality the postseason presents to her young team.

"They felt the sting down there," Frese said.

To move forward, the No. 16 Terps must iron out the mental lapses that led to their collapse against the Yellow Jackets. After building an 11-point lead early in the second half, the Terps' play disintegrated en route to a 70-64 loss.

"I felt like we played not to lose after we got the big lead," Frese said. "We had some untimely turnovers that really hurt us and tough defensive breakdowns. You have to figure that out as a young team; when Georgia Tech made their run, I thought their experience and their poise paid off."

Frese, though, feels her team has responded well since getting back to practice. And while it's clear the Terps have plenty of work to do to embark on a deep NCAA Tournament run, Frese is reminded of an ACC foe that found itself in a similar situation last season.

"You look at what Florida State did last year, they lost in the first round and they went to the Elite Eight," Frese said. "How do you use a lesson to propel you for what's out ahead?"

It remains to be seen whether the Terps can turn their disappointment in Greensboro, N.C., into success on the road to Indianapolis, the site of this year's Final Four.

But as they continue to wait to start that journey, Frese remains confident that if her team can hold steady, it could be a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA Tournament.

"We continue to harp on the team, no one has beat us by more than 10 all season," Frese said. "The numbers that we put on North Carolina [in a 23-point victory] and Duke [in a 22-point victory], nobody's beaten us like that. We've just beaten ourselves."

cwalsh@umdbk.com