Maryland puts stop to NU season
Nick Filipowski
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Sports
The Nebraska women's basketball team's run in the NCAA tournament ended Tuesday night with a 76-64 loss to the top seeded Maryland Terrapins.
The Cornhuskers, who defeated Xavier in their opening-round matchup, fell to 21-12 on the season, while the Terrapins improved their record to 32-3 and will now face No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
"We came into the game feeling we were capable of winning," Griffin told Huskers.com. "We had a goal for every media timeout to not look at the whole game, but to look at the game in chunks. Maryland made some tough plays down the stretch, and outrebounding us was key."
The Terps jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead to start the second-round match up against the Huskers, but the early deficit was quickly erased as NU pulled to within 8-7 with 16:40 remaining in the half.
After seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes, Nebraska finally settled down and hit a groove, which was highlighted with a shot clock buzzer-beater by freshman guard Kaitlyn Burke with 8:45 remaining.
Maryland Coach Brenda Frese exploded in frustration that the shot counted, and she was quickly assessed a technical foul. Burke made good and converted 1-of-2 free throws.
Then things looked to take a turn for the worse, as both junior forward Kelsey Griffin and senior center/forward Danielle Page were each assessed their second and third personal fouls on the night.
Maryland took advantage of the downed Huskers and went on an 11-0 run to open up a 15-point lead with 5:12 left in the first half.
After a quick time out, NU Coach Connie Yori sent her squad back out to do battle, and the Huskers charged back with a 16-2 run, which was highlighted by the exceptional play of sophomore guard Yvonne Turner.
Tuner sparked the run with a lay-up, followed it up with a 3-pointer, and finally put an exclamation on the run with a behind the back pass to teammate guard Nicole Neals, who scored despite being swarmed by several Maryland players.
The Cornhuskers, who defeated Xavier in their opening-round matchup, fell to 21-12 on the season, while the Terrapins improved their record to 32-3 and will now face No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
"We came into the game feeling we were capable of winning," Griffin told Huskers.com. "We had a goal for every media timeout to not look at the whole game, but to look at the game in chunks. Maryland made some tough plays down the stretch, and outrebounding us was key."
The Terps jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead to start the second-round match up against the Huskers, but the early deficit was quickly erased as NU pulled to within 8-7 with 16:40 remaining in the half.
After seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes, Nebraska finally settled down and hit a groove, which was highlighted with a shot clock buzzer-beater by freshman guard Kaitlyn Burke with 8:45 remaining.
Maryland Coach Brenda Frese exploded in frustration that the shot counted, and she was quickly assessed a technical foul. Burke made good and converted 1-of-2 free throws.
Then things looked to take a turn for the worse, as both junior forward Kelsey Griffin and senior center/forward Danielle Page were each assessed their second and third personal fouls on the night.
Maryland took advantage of the downed Huskers and went on an 11-0 run to open up a 15-point lead with 5:12 left in the first half.
After a quick time out, NU Coach Connie Yori sent her squad back out to do battle, and the Huskers charged back with a 16-2 run, which was highlighted by the exceptional play of sophomore guard Yvonne Turner.
Tuner sparked the run with a lay-up, followed it up with a 3-pointer, and finally put an exclamation on the run with a behind the back pass to teammate guard Nicole Neals, who scored despite being swarmed by several Maryland players.
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