Lynetta Kizer faces Old Dominion tonight. Jaclyn Borowski/The Diamondback

Yes, the Terrapin women’s basketball team is playing again. For those keeping track at home, Thursday night’s game against Old Dominion now puts the count at four games in the last 10 days, three in the last six, and two in the last four.

Normally, this might be problematic. After all, four hours of basketball in 48 (or so) hours — which the Terps experienced after a Saturday/Monday slate of games this week — can age a body pretty quick.

But given the youth of this team, having a little older everything might not be such a bad idea.

And so far, the young Terps haven’t faltered. They’re winning games by margins even last year’s team couldn’t really reach in the season’s nascent stages.

Still, games against teams like Old Dominion have their due importance, even if they’re not necessarily competitive. In the case of the Lady Monarchs, it’s a chance for the Terps to see how they stack up against the nation’s elite.

Last Friday, No. 2 Stanford took Old Dominion behind the woodshed at their own place to the tune of a 89-56 shellacking. If the Terps could mirror that result, or at least come moderately close, it might do a lot for a team that’s probably wondering where it stacks up nationally.

With that being said, making extrapolations from the transitive theory of basketball results isn’t the greatest method of data analysis. Unfortunately, it’s nonetheless one of the few things one can do this early in the season.

Before we can look at all that, though, I guess it wouldn’t be smart to not look at what the Lady Monarchs actually offer in the way of the game itself. After a few minutes of research, it seems they certainly have some decent size inside, and how their bigs play should weigh heavily in one of this game’s foremost storylines: how Lynetta Kizer and Co. bounce back from a rough outing Monday.

Kizer, the reigning Freshman of the Year in the ACC, and centers Yemi Oyefuwa and Essence Townsend went a combined 3-for-17 against New Hampshire. With an unproven and still-learning back court, that’s the last thing Brenda Frese probably wanted to see from her triumvirate of true post players.

For Kizer and Frese and everyone else, Thursday’s also the final chance to work out any lingering kinks and concerns before the team hits the road for the first time against a team that will probably give the Terps their first true test this season. On Sunday, the Terps will do battle with No. 25 Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., in a game that should be a dandy. (I would be remiss not to show off any of my Southern vernacular to y’all, you hear?)

As for why the Terps agreed to fly out to Starkville? Your guess is as good as mine. But it’s a chance to cram in some more basketball, and that seems like the M.O. of the Terps right now.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 1:08 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.