SUPER BOWL 2012

At One Point Late in the Second Half, ESPN Announcer Rebecca Lobo commented about Maryland's 27 turnovers, saying "that's pretty horrible." But she immediately followed up her remark by observing that the Terps "made up [for the TOs] with effort."

Did they ever! What a great effort. And what a great show Maryland put on today for the national TV audience, and a great crowd at Comcast, in beating the #10/11 ranked Tarheels, 88-65.

We assume that, like the BCs, you either saw the game in person (as one of us did) or on TV (as the other did), so you know how it progressed: Maryland raced out to an early lead. UNC closed the gap somewhat, only to see the Terps respond and take a 12-point lead into the locker room at halftime. The second half was pretty much all Maryland, as that 12-point margin grew to 23 points before time expired. Maryland wins. The Terps move to 3-2 in ACC play.

Except for those horrible pesky turnovers, there wasn't much not to like about today's game. When it comes to writing about Maryland's great effort, we hardly know where to begin.

As a team, the Terps shot 47% from the field (wow), 45% from outside the arc (amazing), and an almost unbelievable 92% from the free throw line! Before the game, Coach B challenged her team to "own the glass" in their home arena, and Maryland did exactly that . . . outrebounding UNC 49-26, and 17 of those were offensive boards. Today's 88 points were a season high for the team. And, of the Terps' 30 baskets, 21 were assisted. What a total team effort!

As for individual contributions, there were so many! Super-frosh (and the BCs' overwhelming choice for ACC Rookie of the Year) Alyssa Thomas** led the Terps in scoring (16) and rebounding (13) . . . obviously another double-double. Three other Maryland starters had double-figure nights: Diandra, whose parents made the trip from Paris for the game (the first time they've seen her play on this side of the pond), had a fabulous performance that included 13 points, 6 rebounds, and probably most impressive of all, 4 highlight-reel blocks. Team leader Lynetta chipped in 12 points and 9 boards. And Anjale did a terrific job of finding her open teammates. "Bronx" finished with 11assists (a career high) and 8 points, falling just shy of a double-double.

The ESPN team was certainly impressed with Maryland's young line up, as were we. They loved the enthusiasm, they loved the talent, they loved the effort they saw from the Terps today. We feel the same way. What's not to love about a big win, at home, over a (higher) nationally ranked ACC opponent . . . on ESPN! (Maybe those turnovers. But hey, nobody's perfect.)

Next up, the Terps play host to Wake Forest, at Comcast on Friday night at 8:30 PM. It will be hard to match the fun and excitement of today's game, but every ACC game counts the same in the standings, so it will be every bit as important. We hope to see you Friday night!