RALEIGH, N.C.–Some observations compiled during the first half of the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s Regional Final against Louisville.

-Maybe I’m just a little disoriented because a few of them are sitting behind me, but there can’t be more than 100 Louisville fans in the arena. Perhaps they are still smarting over their men’s team’s poor performance in the men’s elite eight yesterday and didn’t feel like making the trip.

-Cardinals star forward Angel McCoughtry is even skinnier in person than she looks on television. She is extremely athetic though. McCoughtry against Marissa Coleman will be a tremendous matchup.

-The Cardinals are coming out with a full-court press. The Terps have historically been known to struggle against full court defenses. Kristi Toliver is being forced to work extremely hard to get the ball up the floor.

-The Terps look anxious early. They are forcing passes and shooting early in the shot clock. It didn’t help them that the Cardinals made their first four shots. Louisville leads 9-5 at the 16-minute timeout.

-In the second four-minute segment the Terps are doing a better job against the press, relying more on quick passes than Toliver’s ball-handling to get the ball upcourt. As the Cardinals’ shooting is beginning to cool, the Terps are starting to settle in.

-The Terps are struggling with some tough rims. Open shots aren’t falling. It’s 16-11 Cardinals at the 12-minute timeout.

-I don’t like the soft zone defense the Terps are in. The Cardinals are able to find the passing lanes and turn quick passes into way too many open shots. The Cardinals are in a zone too but they are attacking the ball and making it difficult for the Terps to get their offense set up. 24-14 at the eight-minute timeout.

-The Cardinals are committed to not letting Coleman beat them.  Every time she touches the ball she is swarmed by an extra defender who was waiting nearby to help. Other Terps, inlcuding a cold Toliver, need to step up and make shots.

-The Terps switched to man defense and it is definitely more effective.  The Cardinals offense is starting to look out of whack, and each shot is more contested. Now the Terps just need to get their offense going, but things feel like they are starting to turn. 24-19 Louisville at the four-minute timeout.

-In the last few minutes of the half the Terps are starting to take control. They’re confidence is building and they finally look like the better team. A McCoughtry jumper at the buzzer made it 30-25 Cardinals at halftime, but I have a much better feeling about this game than I did a couple of media timeouts ago.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

RALEIGH, N.C.– It’s about 15 minutes until the Raleigh Regional Final between the Terrapin women’s basketball team and Louisville tips off at the RBC Center, and there are still plenty of great seats available.

It’s difficult to judge with fans of both teams wearing red, but estimating based on the noise level and looking a little more closely at people’s shirts, I would guess between 80 and 90 percent of the couple thousand fans that are here are supporting the Terps.

One section of Terp fans is holding up what we’ll call “Brenda Faces” and waving them around.  It’s a cool idea, but a little strange to see so many black and white copies of coach Brenda Frese’s face.

In another rough estimation of the size of the crowd, I’d say there’s about a tenth of the number of fans that were here when the Terrapin men’s basketball team played in this arena against N.C. State about four weeks ago. 

It’s extremely quiet in the arena, and the atmosphere certainly doesn’t fit the magnitude of the game.

Nevertheless, it should be a good one.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

Raleigh, N.C.- Call me crazy, but I thought I read something about the Terp women’s basketball team being the prohibitive favorite in this region.

I guess after their near loss Saturday to Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16, people aren’t so high on them anymore. According to superbook.com, the Terps are 2 point underdogs against Louisville in the Elite Eight tonight.

(Just in case you were wondering, I don’t use this site or any others like it. In fact I’ve never even visited it before. I just heard from a friend.)

Anyway, this came as a slight shock to me because talent-wise, Louisville can’t match the Terps. I don’t think anyone would argue that, even Cardinals coach Jeff Walz, based on his comments yesterday.

Then again, if the rest of the Terps other than Marissa Coleman have underwhelming games like they did Saturday, Louisville will be the team going to next weekend’s Final Four.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

Raleigh, N.C.- If you read The Diamondback or pay attention to any news outlet covering the Terp women’s basketball team, you already know about Louisville coach Jeff Walz’s connection to the Terps.

But what about the Cardinals’ actual players? After all, they are the ones playing the game tonight, a point both Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver made clear while getting bombarded with questions about Walz during yesterday’s media availability.

No. 35 Angel McCoughtry, 6-foot-1 F, 23.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 4.2 spg: McCoughtry, a Baltimore native, is one of the premier players in the country and the unquestioned leader of this Louisville team. Against Baylor on Saturday and through most of the season, the senior has used her unmatched physical skills to dominate teams in the paint and off the dribble.

Stopping McCoughtry is key. It will be intriguing who coach Brenda Frese decides to put on her. The safe bet would be Coleman. But forward Dee Liles could be the better option.

Coleman has to be able to save herself for the offensive end, and McCoughtry’s perimeter game is unpolished. She’s only a 31 percent 3-point shooter and was 0-6 from three on Saturday. That means Liles can afford to sag off a little bit and force other Cardinals to hit shots.

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Raleigh, N.C.- 42 points. 15 rebounds. With her season- make that her career- on the line, Terp women’s basketball forward Marissa Coleman literally willed the Terps to victory in their Sweet 16 rematch against No. 4 seed Vanderbilt this afternoon at the RBC Center.

The Terps were trailing the entire game, except for the last 2:07. And they weren’t just trailing. They were getting embarrassed. The Terps fell behind by as much as 18 in the first half, cut the halftime deficit to three, then allowed a 9-3 Vandy run to start the second.

The defense wasn’t there, either in transition or in the half court. No offense to Vandy- the Commodores are the SEC Tournament champions and a solid defensive team despite their size- but they didn’t appear to have the pure talent that we thought the Terps possessed.

Other than Coleman, guard Kristi Toliver (17 pts) and guard Kim Rodgers (12 rebounds) it’s safe to say every other Terp had an “off-day.”

After a technical foul on Lynetta Kizer and two Vandy free throws made it Vandy 68, Terps 57, with just 6:59 remaining, the game seemed over. The Terps were making runs, but they weren’t making enough stops. Vandy forward Christina Wirth (career high 28 points) hit crucial shot after crucial shot.

Then, the Terps rallied. The only way to stop Coleman in this game was to foul her. She went 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Kristi Toliver started hitting her shot. She scored 14 of her 17 total points in the second half.

Coleman hit the tie-breaking shot with 29 seconds left. She then got the rebound once Wirth missed on the other end and converted both free throws at the end for the 78-74 victory.

42 points and 15 rebounds when her team looked as good as dead again and again? I’d say that’s pretty epic.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

Here’s all I’ve got to say about today’s Virginia-Maryland men’s lacrosse game: it was so long, the system they use to input stats could not handle the game.

Terp SID Patrick Fischer attached this note to the bottom of his write-up on the game:

 NOTE: Stats are not available. Statcrew software is not programmed to handle a game past four overtimes. Stats will be posted onumterps.com as soon as a solution is worked out.

Yeah, it was that kind of game, Virginia beating Maryland 10-9 in the first minute of the seventh overtime – the 85th minute of the game.

To say it was exhausting would be putting it lightly. We’re already back from Charlottesville, but I’m beat.

You can check out more on the longest game in college men’s lacrosse history in tomorrow’s Diamondback.

ajosephdbk@gmail.com

Raleigh, N.C.- Coleman finishes with 42 points, including the tie-breaking jumper and two free throws to seal the 78-74 victory. Oh, and she also had the key rebounds down the stretch.

At the end of her gigantic effort, she crouched on the floor, visibly fatigued, before her teammates came to help her back to the bench.

More later tonight. You can bet on it.

Raleigh, N.C.- I get the feeling Marissa Coleman doesn’t want to lose this game.

The Terps were down 37-20 with five and half minutes remaining in the first half. Kristi Toliver had two fouls. Dee Liles had two fouls.

Other than Marissa Coleman, nobody on the Terps was hitting shots and Vandy was getting open shots off of simple hand-offs and screens with little resistance.

At halftime, the score is Vanderbilt 39, Terps 36. Coleman has 19 points and is willing her way to the free throw line. She’s hit six of seven foul shots. Stay tuned.

akrautdbk@gmail.com