Posts Tagged ‘Crystal Langhorne’

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April 1st, 2008 | 02:31 am

A disappointing finish

Well, that sucked.

Just when it looked like we’d all be heading to Tampa next week, the Terrapin women’s basketball season ended here in Spokane on Monday night.

The Terps played well in the 98-87 loss. But Stanford played one of the best games I have ever seen.

Candice Wiggins was ridiculous, scoring 41 points and showing incredible range.

After the game, Crystal Langhorne, Marissa Coleman, Kristi Toliver and Brenda Frese all had tears in their eyes when they walked into the press conference.

Langhorne started sobbing when she answered her first question, and Frese started crying again when Langhorne did.

Langhorne and Laura Harper sat consoling each other in a corner of the Terps’ locker room afterward, and nobody seemed willing to believe that the season was actually over.

After following them so closely for the past several months, it was definitely tough to see it all end.

The Terps had a good run. It’s too bad they couldn’t keep it going for one more week.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

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March 24th, 2008 | 08:02 pm

‘Everybody Hates Duke’

Even though the Terrapin women’s basketball team and Duke aren’t playing each other, and aren’t even in the same NCAA tournament region, the bad blood between the rivals has been evident at Comcast Center this week.

After the Blue Devils beat Murray State in their first-round game Sunday night, coach Joanne P. McCallie apparently didn’t appreciate the hostile treatment her team received from Terp fans who remained in the arena after the Terps’ win over Coppin State.

She even went so far as to make a snappy remark about the Maryland fanbase’s collective IQ.

So at today’s press conference, a reporter asked the Terp contingent of senior forwards Crystal A. Langhorne and Laura A. Harper and coach Brenda F. Thomas “Why do you think your fans dislike Duke so much?”

The usually soft-spoken Langhorne was quickest to respond.

“It’s Duke. Come on now,” Langhorne said. “I don’t know, maybe it started with men’s basketball–you know everybody hates Duke. I mean it’s not just Maryland, everybody does. I think it just festered into our little program too, just went to the women’s side.”

Harper offered slightly less inflammatory follow-up remarks, and F. Thomas just shook her head and unsuccessfully tried to stifle her laughter.

When Duke tips off its second-round game against Arizona State on Tuesday night at 7:22–with the Terps playing Nebraska 30 minutes after the conclusion–it’s a safe bet there will be plenty of early-arriving Terp fans in attendance rooting for the Sun Devils, and heckling the Blue Devils, and it might be fun for you to join them.

Come on now. It’s Duke.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

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February 20th, 2008 | 07:21 pm

Crystal Langhorne’s Request

Crystal Langhorne wants more play in The Diamondback.

The senior forward first asked me for a Gameday layout in the paper before her Terrapin women’s basketball team played Ohio State back in November, and even after I told my editor about her specifically requesting the section, it didn’t happen.

Before I interviewed her this afternoon after practice, Langhorne asked me again for a Gameday section in Friday’s paper in anticipation of Senior Day on Sunday against Florida State.

I referred her to Monday’s coverage of the Terps’ win at Duke on Sunday, which included two stories about the team, the full box score, and the Up-and-Down and By The Numbers sections typically reserved for men’s games.

She said she’d seen it, and admitted she was impressed, but she still wanted something for Senior Day.

I told her I’d do what I could, and I started my interview.

Toward the end of the Q+A, I asked her “Senior Day’s Sunday. What do you think that’s going to be like?”

“Lots of tears,” Langhorne said. “It’s a lot of us so [pause…grin] I think it should be a big deal in The Diamondback. Who knows? I think they should have the old picture of when we were freshmen and like a new picture of when we’re seniors and compare them. So who knows what The Diamondback’s going to do, but it’s a big day.”

So Crystal Langhorne wants a Gameday layout and a photo montage in Friday’s Diamondback.

Crystal, I did what I could.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

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February 7th, 2008 | 01:20 am

Women’s basketball reacts to Virginia Tech scare

This afternoon at the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s first full practice after its too-close-for-comfort overtime win at Virginia Tech on Monday, I separately asked Crystal Langhorne and Kristi Toliver if they had any further comment on Monday’s game after letting it sink in for a couple of days.

Toliver decided to take the “We got a win and that’s all that matters” road, and did so with a straight face, but Langhorne gave a response that was closer to what I was expecting.

“It was just an ugly game,” Langhorne said, shaking her head. “For us to play so bad and still win speaks a lot about our team, but it was very disappointing how we came out and played.”

I half-jokingly told coach Brenda Frese that she missed an exciting game Monday, but the pregnant coach didn’t seem to appreciate my humor.

“I watched it on TV,” Frese said. “That was enough.”

It’s hard to blame the usually-jovial Frese for being a bit irritated today. Frese stopped traveling to all road games more than a month ago, and during home games and practices she is mostly confined to her large computer chair that is brought down from her office. After standing up to give two short interviews after practice today, she decided it would be best to sit down again for a third.

While Frese’s due date is officially March 11, the unofficial word around the team is that labor may be induced by the end of February if she has not delivered by then.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

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