As the end of the first half approached in Tuesday’s second-round NCAA tournament game, Utah found itself in a common situation. The shot clock was turned off and Mountain West player of the year Morgan Warburton calmly stood at the top of the key, watching the seconds tick down into single digits, waiting for the time to be right to take the last shot of the first half.
Or at least what she thought would be the last shot.
Marissa Coleman blocked Warburton’s driving layup attempt and quickly hit Kristi Toliver with an outlet pass. Toliver raced up the court, drew the lone defender Utes defender who made it back, and delivered a perfect bounce pass to Marah Strickland for a wide-open layup.
That five-second sequence was a microcosm of the Terrapins’ 71-56 win over Utah at Comcast Center. The Utes were sometimes close, but never able to corral the Terps, who comfortably ran up and down the court all night.
With the win the Terps advanced to the Sweet 16, where they will face fourth-seeded Vanderbilt on Saturday at RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Utah did its best to slow down Maryland’s senior stars. Kalee Whipple played physical defense on Coleman, not allowing her to bull her way to the basket. The Utes threw waves of defenders at Toliver, cutting off all available lanes to the basket.
But it didn’t matter. The Terps had their pick-and-roll game working to perfection, and Toliver (17 points) and Coleman (18 points and 18 rebounds) showed again all they need is a little daylight to get a high-percentage shot off.
But it hardly mattered if a Maryland shot went awry. The Terps completely dominated the glass, grabbing 22 offensive rebounds and holding a 47-22 rebounding advantage overall.
Utah’s quick lineup gave the Terps fits at first, but coach Brenda Frese quickly adjusted by inserting backup point guard Anjale Barrett for center Lynetta Kizer with 14:14 left in the first half. Maryland stuck with a four-guard lineup for the remainder of the game and started scoring in bunches. Starting bigs Dee Liles and Kizer split time at center, and Coleman was more than capable of banging down low on defense as the Terps built their sizeable rebounding advantage.
At the same time, Warburton and Whipple cooled off, drying up Utah’s surest chances of keeping up with the Terps, who were off and running at every opportunity.
Utah led 15-8 when Maryland went small, and the Terps proceeded to rip off a 20-5 run over the next 6:32. After trading baskets with Utah for the next three possessions, Maryland closed the decisive half on a 12-0 run, with Coleman’s block þ that turned into a Strickland layup — dooming the Utes’ upset chances.
The Terps’ potency peaked in a 12-possession stretch bridging the two decisive runs during which they poured in 20 points.
Warburton and Whipple kept firing for Utah, but the Terps’ onslaught was too much of a burden to overcome. Warburton finished with 17 points and Whipple 24, but the pair understandably ran out of legs after having to chase around Toliver and Coleman all night as well. Utah shot 37.7 percent overall, not nearly enough to keep up with Maryland.
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