Alas, I couldn’t be in Charlottesville, Va., last night to watch the Terrapin women’s basketball team notch their first win over a top-25 team Monday night with a 61-60 win at Virginia, but here’s four points I gathered from my viewing of the telecast. (Note: if you missed the game, you can catch it on ESPN360 before it gets taken down.)
1.) The monkey is off the back. Well, two monkeys actually. This young Terps squad (13-3, 1-1 ACC) not only notched their first big-time road victory of the year, but did so in conference play. Sure, coach Brenda Frese would have liked this to have happened last week, when the Terps faltered at N.C. State, but you’ll take what you can get a.) on the road b.) in the ACC. As mentioned in the telecast, this game could prove crucial come tournament time. Nothing stands out better on a tournament resume than a head-to-head win against another bubble-licious team, and the Terps certainly added one tonight. What confidence the youthful Terps gained — if any — will certainly be at center-stage Thursday, when they host Boston College. The Eagles smashed the Wolfpack by 17 over the weekend, making this game an intriguing measuring stick for the Terps.
2.) The team goes as Lynetta Kizer goes. The Terps have had their best games of the season when Kizer, the most accomplished returning player from last year’s team, has done the work inside. Kizer’s effectiveness with the ball isn’t an issue — she’s shooting over 50 percent from the field this season — but the amount of touches and shots she gets on a game-to-game basis has been as variable as it is telling. Kizer had six points against N.C. State on Thursday, and the Terps lost big. She had 19 points Monday, and the Terps triumphed. Coincidence? Hardly.
3.) Turnovers are still an issue… Somehow, the Terps escaped Charlottesville with a win despite having more turnovers (28) than field goals (23). Freshman forward Diandra Tchatchouang had nearly a third of that dubious total (nine), bringing her to 15 turnovers in two ACC contests — making her, by my estimation, probably the frontrunner for last in the conference. Freshman forward Tianna Hawkins had seven to her name, as well, bringing her two-game total to 11. Growing pains aren’t easy, but a road win is always a nice salve.
4.) … but they can be overcome. I’d wager that roughly 60 percent of the discussion in last night’s telecast focused on Virginia guard Monica Wright’s quest for the program’s scoring title (and just why she wasn’t being targeted in the offense for most of the night). But despite all the adulation, Wright went only 7-of-24 from the floor, a credit to the defense Tchatchouang and guard Jackie Nared played on her for much of the night. After a lights-out first-half shooting performance from N.C. State dampened the Terps’ chances of opening ACC play with a win, the Terps bounced back well Monday, holding Wright and the Cavaliers to nearly 30 percent shooting. Ultimately, it didn’t matter that the Terps were handing the ball over on every other possession, because the Cavaliers couldn’t do much with it, either.
Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s women’s basketball beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.