Holy Rollover II

The BCs may be shameless, but we're not dishonest. So, for the record, we "borrowed" the title of this post -- Holy Rollover -- from a loyal reader, Marcie, who used that term in a comment to our last post. It made us laugh.

We also laughed at her reference to the Terps' exhibition/early season opponents from the "WWJD conference." We thought that was pretty funny too . . . also pretty accurate: Messiah, Holy Family, Loyola, Georgetown. So we shamelessly "borrowed" that as well. Thanks, Marcie! If one of our (heretofore nonexistent) sponsors ever decides to invest in BasketCases Bobbleheads, you can be sure you'll get a limited edition set.

As for this evening's game, the Terps hosted the D-II Holy Family Tigers in their second (and final) exhibition at Comcast. The Tigers, ranked #18 in the preseason Division II poll, pulled out to an early lead over the #10/11 D-I Terps, scoring the first 1-point of the game. But the home team fought back, putting together a run of its own . . . 27 unanswered points. It wasn't until 10:23 remaining in the first half that Holy Family managed to score its first field goal of the game. Final score: Maryland 94-36. No disrespect intended, but this one really was a Holy Rollover, Batman. The Tigers did their best, but were obviously overmatched.

Alyssa Thomas led all scorers with 23 points . . . in only 19 minutes of play. Four other Terps scored in double figures: Bones Mosley (16), Alicia DeVaughn (14), Tianna Hawkins (12) and Laurin Mincy (10). Alicia and Tianna both notched double-doubles: Alicia grabbed a game-high 14 boards and Tianna added 11. The BCs also want to give a shout out to Essence Townsend, who blocked 3 shots, scored 6 points and pulled down 7 rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time. Essence looks a good deal more comfortable out on the court than she did a year ago.

For the second game in a row, the Terps were without the services of Lynetta Kizer, who remains on indefinite suspension. Netta was in warm-ups on the bench . . . cheering, encouraging her teammates, conversing with the coaching staff. In other words, she wasn't playing, but she was very much engaged. Kim Rodgers also got the night off, but not due to any suspension. Unofficially, the word was her knees could benefit from a little rest before the regular season begins. And that will be happening very soon, indeed.

Tonight's game concluded the games-that-don't-count portion of Maryland's schedule. From here on out, each W or L will become part of the team's record that determines where Maryland will be ranked when the NCAA committee meets in March of next year to fill out their all-important bracket for the Big Dance. Though ACC play is still a couple of months away, every game and every opponent -- whether they come from the Big East, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, Colonial or even the WWJD conference -- will have an impact on the outcome of Maryland's season. In other words, every opponent must be taken seriously and none of them should be "rollovers."

First up in the real season is Loyola, whose players and coaches will travel all the way from Baltimore to face the Terps Friday night (7 PM) at Comcast. Time to get this season started!

Go Terps . . . Beat the Greyhounds!

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