Terps Survive Toliver's Homecoming, defeating JMU 71-65

James Madison gave Maryland quite the holiday scare. But the Terps survived, barely.

Maryland came into this game 13-1 and on 12 days rest after playing all 14 of their games in a span of 31 days. As John Willmott said, they were probably some of the few people who looked forward to finals because it meant they could rest and not play basketball. The James Madison Dukes, a 9-seed in the NCAA tournament last year, entered with a record of 6-2 having won their last 30 games in the Convo, at the time an NCAA record for games won at home in a row.

Kristi Toliver came back to her hometown of Harrisonburg, Virginia to a loud 5,000 person crowd in the Convo and was hit with taunts of "Traitor" by the courtside student section and a "Go Home Kristi" sign from the band but was given a loud ovation by the crowd when introduced in the starting lineup. The crowd was very active through most of the night and sometimes threw Maryland off their game.

The first half started out poorly for the Terps. Despite starting on a 6-0 run, Toliver quickly received two fouls which affected the flow of the offense, putting Marissa Coleman (who shot 2-11 in the half) on the point. JMU countered with an 11-0 run and at one point led by nine. Maryland got their offense together thanks to good shooting down low from Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper and tied the game 33-33 at the half. Despite not getting a three and having quite a few fouls from guards, Maryland could look forward to having Toliver back in the second half.

JMU came out quickly in the second half with a 7-0 run. Tamara Young was playing very well, hitting key shots, drawing fouls, and ending with 28 points. The Terps did eventually regain the lead, but with nine minutes left, the Dukes were up by 10 points and looked like they had the game. Toliver was still struggling, and James Madison was clicking on all cylinders. Maryland then came alive, led by Toliver, Coleman, and Harper, climbing back to take the lead with 3:40 left. Great defense by the Terps kept the Dukes to only two points in the last four minutes, and Maryland was able to pull away in the final minute. A real scare, but the Terps improved to 14-1 on the season.

Harper was on fire in the front court, nearly scoring a double-double with 24 points (8-10 from the field) and nine rebounds. She also hit 8-10 free throws.

Langhorne surpassed the 1,000 rebound mark with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Despite a bad first half, Coleman came on strong in the second half with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Although this game was a scare, the Terps showed a lot of heart in this game. Maryland was down by nine and ten in times during the game and had to deal with an intense JMU crowd, but they pulled it out.

Maryland will have some questions from this game. The Terrapin offense didn't look fluid without Toliver, and the bench still isn't much of a factor in games. But for now, things are going well in College Park.

Maryland will come home for the Terrapin Classic, hosting Richmond and UMBC on the 29th and 30th respectively. Tipoff is at 2:00 PM for each game, tune in the wmucsports.com for the action.

From all us on the women's basketball crew and WMUC, we wish you all a happy holiday.