Boston – They’re young, fearless, talented and deep. They might have all the makings of the next dynasty in women’s basketball.
Maryland was supposed to be a year away. But Sunday, when everybody else turned their clocks up an hour, the Terrapins might have turned theirs up 12 months, defeating top-ranked pretournament favorite North Carolina 81-70 in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
“They have the hearts of lions,” said Maryland’s Brenda Frese, the young coach who has put this team together in just four years on the job. “They believe in each other.”
It was on that faith the Terps turned back the the most dominant team in the nation for the second time this season. They stayed close thanks to budding superstars Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper in a back-and- forth battle for most of the game, then closed out the Tar Heels on the determined play of veteran junior guard Shay Doron and freshman post player Marissa Coleman at the end of the game.
“We were just getting in the gaps and getting some easy layups,” Langhorne said.
In a game that was decided under the basket, North Carolina workhorse Erlana Larkins had the best numbers with 28 points and 10 rebounds, but she simply couldn’t keep pace with Langhorne (23 points, two rebounds) and Laura Harper (24, nine).
Harper, who missed a number of early layups, and Coleman were particularly deadly late in the game, answering a late Carolina push with Harper scoring on a layup to put the Terps up 75-70 with 39 seconds left and Coleman closing it out with four of the last six free throws.
The last of those foul shots came courtesy of North Carolina All-American Ivory Latta, who was so frustrated she body-slammed Coleman on a rebound with one second left in the game.
The young and reckless Terps guards had 24 turnovers, trying to force the ball inside, but the effort often paid off, especially when they got it to Langhorne.
It was the left-handed Langhorne vs. the long-armed Larkins in the first half as the post players battled inside to account for a large part of their teams’ scoring.
Langhorne, the nation’s most efficient shooter at 66.5 percent, was perfect for the first 19 minutes of play, going 7-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 at the free-throw line before missing a layup with 30 seconds left in the first half.
From that point, the Terps weren’t about to give up.
“This team has played with a chip on its shoulder, and I really felt like they have had to fight for respect every step of the way,” Frese said.
North Carolina, whose only regular-season loss was 98-95 at home to the Terps, was the only team in the Final Four to have a national title to its credit.
Maryland is making its third appearance in the Final Four and its first since 1989.
The Terps played in the first women’s Final Four in 1982, losing to Cheyney State in the semifinals.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
